In this digitalized world, videos are becoming increasingly important, and more and more brands are getting into video content more than ever. It is used by individuals and organizations to promote their products or services and engage their audience.
Most consumers engage more with video content; that’s why YouTube is the most visited search engine after Google, and applications like Tik-Tok are getting viral.
Studies have shown that over 80% of all online content will involve one form of video. YouTube has an enormous amount of traffic every day, so individuals, brands, and organizations must take advantage of this great opportunity.
One of the best ways to promote your brand through video content is by making explainer videos. But, only creating an explainer video is not enough. There are a number of factors that rule out the success of video and one of them is the “video time”
How to Determine the Ideal Length of an Explainer Video?
The truth is, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all guideline. In this digital world, there are tons of video content scrambling for consumer attention. So, marketers have to find a way to grab and retain that attention if they want to make sales or promote their brand.
If you have ever noticed, a TED talk video goes typically for around 15 minutes in length, a video pitch is approximately 2 minutes, and a video advert lasts for about 60 seconds. Each video has a specific length. The video’s size may be affected by different factors like a content, audience targeting, distributing platform, and overall context.
Let’s look into this in more details:
Video Timing: Rushing Or Dragging?
An explainer video can typically be above 30 seconds and below 2 minutes. The length of your video is very crucial in dictating the success of your video. A time span from 60 seconds to 90 seconds is often considered as a sweet spot.
If you keep your video length below 60 seconds, you may miss your products’ juicy message. If you look to cover every corner, your video length may spike to 90 seconds plus.
Ideal video length and engagement power
Several studies have shown that consumer attention or engagement declines after 2 minutes. It’s considerably stable between 60 to 90 seconds.
What does this mean to marketers? It means that their videos shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes long. Anything above 2 minutes is a waste of resources and time because the engagement will drop.
Intention and social media platform
You should consider the social media platform that the explainer video will be promoted on. It can comfortably be 2 minutes on YouTube because most viewers are “prepared” to watch videos on that platform.
It’s often around 1 minute for Facebook as long as the first few seconds are captivating and engaging. For Instagram and Twitter, it’s between 30 to 45 seconds.
This is because Instagram is more visual, and so users tend to scroll quickly. Long videos won’t capture their attention as much.
Twitter thrives with short updates (tweets), so anything posted here should be quick and straightforward.
If it’s posted on a website, most people that take their time to visit are looking for content, so it’s natural that content posted here should be long and comprehensive.
You have to consider how much your target audience consumes and engage with information on social media platforms so that you can gauge the appropriate length.
But now, the real question is- Should the video be 60 or 90 seconds?
The Battleline
60 seconds video?
A 60-second long video is excellent to narrate your brand story. With this length, you can highlight the pain point and give a brief idea of how you can address the pain point through your product or service.
90 seconds video?
A 90-second video is more suitable when your product involves complexity or when you are at the purchase stage of your marketing funnel. This can also be a justified length for whiteboard animated explainer videos.
The general recommendation: the shorter, the better!
Yes, while it’s left to your discretion to choose your video’s ideal length based on the platform you’re posting on, short and high-quality videos always win. Most great videos are usually between 60 to 90 seconds long.
If you need 2 mins to tell your story and pass a message, go ahead! Just keep the video engaging till the end.
Is it essential that the audience watch the entire video?
Yes.
This is because the call-to-action is often at the end of the video. You aren’t just creating a video to gain likes. You’re creating one to make an impact and perform an action.
What if you can’t squeeze in the content within 90 minutes.
The perfect length of an explainer video isn’t yet written in stone. There is nothing wrong with extending the time of your video if the context demands that.
When you have already engaged the audience with short videos, you can experiment with the video length. However, you should be aware that going beyond the 2 minutes mark will significantly reduce your video’s engagement rate.
Conclusion
Well, there is a lot more magic behind the turnover of explainer videos. But, one of the crucial factors that decide your video performance is the “timing.”
The statistics have always pointed out the impact of video length on your video success. Beyond a certain point, the audience starts losing interest in the video content. However, if you try to cut your video length, ofter you fail to deliver the core message.
This is something you should be aware of. A perfect explainer video should stand out both on timing and content. Being able to deliver the intended message in the right amount of time is crucial for marketing success. Your video can be from anywhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes, but the real effectiveness comes down to how you use the “time window” to communicate your message.
