How long is too long for a video?
Do you watch a product video completely through? If not, what time do you find yourself exiting from the video?
edit: I think what it comes down to is that you should be able to pitch your product or message in the time it takes to keep interest of the audience. I think the catch is: a story? I think an animated story captures attention well.
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Nov 13, 2012
Any pitch, not just a video pitch, has to tell a story.
But videos in general are the most powerful. One study by Cisco suggested that more than 96% of tech buyers and IT executives make purchase decisions by watching marketing videos.
Regarding the length question: Many TV marketers stick to the 30-second rule. But a new study showed that ads 30 to 90 seconds long have the highest conversion rate, and then longer than that, conversion rates drop.
Unless if it's a training video or an infomercial, then that's a whole different game.
You also have to be sure that the video plays in less than 2 seconds, otherwise the audience will not watch the video.
For story telling, I highly recommend these books:
a) Made to Stick
b) Tell to Win, by Peter Guber
c) How to Tell Great Business Stories by Nick Morgan
Links:
http://deluxesmallbizblog.com/branding/short-but-not-so-sweet-medium-length-key-for-video-marketing/
http://gigaom.com/2012/11/09/online-viewers-start-leaving-if-video-doesnt-play-in-2-seconds-says-study/
Tips from Cisco:
http://www.onlinevideo.net/2012/10/b2b-video-marketing-best-practices-and-tips-from-cisco/
Nov 13, 2012
Hi Catrina,
A lot of answers already on lengths - one thing we've found very useful at SocialGO is to put up the video in the length we think is right, and then letting YouTube Analytics do the work for you.
What we found is that on average, our case study video was watched for 1:19 - significantly shorter than the time we built it for. So, for our next edit, we'll try making shorter, snappier 'question-time' videos which run for about a minute and succinctly answer one product-related question at a time.
Hope that helps!
Nov 13, 2012
No longer than 1 minute. Depending on the product, sometimes 30 seconds is sufficient. If it is longer than a minute I usually lose attention.
Nov 13, 2012
Me too! I have noticed lately that many product videos are fairly long. There has to be an estimated "bounce" time that people exit out of the video. Thank you for your feedback. We'll be making additional videos soon and this is helpful!
Nov 13, 2012
If I'm "just curious" about a product I will not watch long at all. If I am about to make a purchase decision I'll watch till the end and then look for another video to get another opinion.
Nov 13, 2012
Spry Digital is working on one for a client and we are trying to keep it under 3 minutes. The goal was 2 1/2 and we felt that was still a little long.
Nov 13, 2012
A good product video should last no longer than one minute. If it is a very entertaining video you canget away with a longer one.
Nov 13, 2012
I usually watch a video for about a minute.
The secret sauce is - the message should be crafted with your target audience in mind. It also needs to be relevant and interesting.
Good luck with your upcoming videos!
Nov 13, 2012
One minute. I am a BNI chapter member and we get 60 seconds every week to do our "infomercial" for that week. Video's are the same. keep it short and sweet. You should be able to sell your product or service in under a minute.
Nov 13, 2012
One minute as intro. Three minutes if the audience is looking for more information.
Jan 2, 2013
If the taget audience is new then between 30sec - 45sec. If this is for current customers then longer. The important part is to catch the attention fast. First impressions are made within 7secs.
Feb 19, 2014
Based on our analysis of marketing videos that we have created, somewhere around 45 seconds is ideal. One of the clients had a shorter version ~30 sec and a longer version ~180 sec video with same theme. The shorter videos were watched more number of times and were watched completely. Whereas, most of the viewers watched only ~50% of the longer version, i.e. only for first 90 seconds.
Nov 13, 2012
Even if your information is action packed with detail people have high interest in, end at 2 minutes. Keep the audience wanting more and coming back for more. I've done music videos sharing a concept for 2 minutes and the folks stick to the end.
I would agree with Mary-Alice except, if the video were 2 minutes about MosaicHUB, I dare say you'd watch to the end without losing attention. :)
Which simply inplies make the content interesting, valuable, action packed and the audience will stay and want more. Add a bit of musical sound helps too.
Hope this helps.
Nov 13, 2012
Two minutes tops, that's about the same as a movie trailer. I tell folks that if they can tell the story of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings in two minutes, you can explain your product in less time.
Nov 13, 2012
If a video is really good, the audiences are hooked to it, then it can even be up to 3 minutes long. Otherwise, I agree with the others, one minute is ideal.
Nov 13, 2012
I agree with many of the answers here - 2 minutes seem to be a consensus - we have tried to keep our intro videos to 2 minutes
Nov 14, 2012
It is like a movie. How long can you keep your audience's attention? Better to leave them wanting more than for them to leave not wanting any more.
Thank you Farzad - this was very helpful information.