How long should your videos be? Video marketers can now rely on various research in the market analysing recommended video durations for social media networks and the connection between video length and user engagement.
How Important is Video Length?
Much like with content marketing where the user’s short attention span favours shorter blog articles and posts, there’s a similar drop-off in video engagement, which decreases with video length. There are exceptions, of course, to the rule.
Some research found out that the 2-minute video mark seems to be the sweet spot. Looking at 564,710 videos and more than 1.3 billion plays revealed a couple of interesting things.
- Videos under 2 minutes have the highest engagement
- Videos between 6 and 12 minutes have an average 50% level of engagement
- Videos longer than 12 minutes see engagement quickly drop off
The above shows that the decrease in user engagement is significant after the 2-minute threshold. If you are making short videos, you shouldn’t be overly concerned about viewing time and engagement. Keep them short and sweet under 2 minutes.
Video marketing involves incorporating videos into your digital marketing campaigns to promote your company, drive sales, raise awareness of your products or services, or engage your customers. Video marketing not only helps you connect with your audience but boosts information retention as well, meaning more people will remember your brand.
The Right Video Length for Social Media
When posting for social media, also keep in mind the maximum video length recommendations for each of the channel you are using. See below:
- Instagram – 60 seconds
- YouTube – 15 min
- Facebook – 120 minutes
- Twitter – 2 min 20 seconds
Although Facebook and Youtube do allow longer video lengths, user viewership and engagement will largely depend on the video’s type and messaging to be effective beyond the short 2-3 minutes mark.
If you are opting for videos longer than 12 minutes (think of popular long-length video content, e.g. TED talks), think about your audience first. You may not have the luxury to build momentum slowly with your script. Focus on the main points you want to convey sooner than later to keep viewers interested from the beginning.
Increase engagement, audience reach and revenue with video marketing.
