Video is king. Today, 91% of businesses are using video as part of their marketing programs, the highest percentage of businesses using this media (including TV) ever. And nearly 90% of marketers believe that video has a definitive and strong impact on sales. This too is an all-time high.[1]
But even better is what consumers have to say about video, especially marketing videos. Get this, 91% of consumers say they want to see more video content from brands, not less.[2]
Clearly, it’s always good business practice to listen to your customers, so delivering video has become more important for business growth than ever before.
But you may be thinking, “how long should my content videos be?” And “how long should my marketing videos be?”
Well, Conversion Media Group’s expert digital marketing team is here today to help answer these important questions for you. Ready?
If you go on YouTube, for example, you’ll find videos with lengths ranging from just 1 second long, to 10 hours long or longer. Obviously, a 1 second video will likely not be very effective as an engagement tool or as a good product pitch; and a 10-hour video likely wouldn’t be either.
You see, the average retention rate of a targeted viewer (for all types of video) is about 54%, meaning just about half will watch its full length. This, even if the content of your video is something they regularly consume.
Yet, this number increases to a 62% retention rate for videos under 60 minutes.[3]
Keep in mind, your content videos should not be created with length in mind. Don’t’ plan to make them a certain length before writing a script or filming. Instead, focus on the quality of the content you plan to deliver. In other words, your videos should only be as long as necessary to properly convey information, or educate your audience, clearly and concisely.
Here’s what we mean…
Let’s take Hollywood for example. An average movie of 120 minutes long takes about 38 hours of film to produce… with 36 hours left on the cutting room floor.
That’s 95% of the “footage” edited out for various reasons, including being unnecessary to efficiently tell the story. Plus, nobody in their right mind would watch a 38-hour long movie, no matter how good it is. The same goes for video content.
If you keep your longer form “content” videos under an hour (15 minutes is ideal), you’ll keep at least 62% of your audience engaged. But if you can effectively tell your story in under 10 minutes, it’s even better.
However, for marketing videos it’s a different story. Only 16% of a targeted audience, on average, will watch an hour-long marketing video. So, marketing videos, especially if the pitch is obvious, should be under 5 minutes… max.
With marketing videos, the shorter the better.
Which brings us to shortform videos.
Shortform has become the new norm in video. Generally speaking, when you distribute videos (either content or marketing) across most social platforms, keeping them to 2-3 minutes long is standard.
But different length video works better on different platforms.[4]
Data shows that Facebook videos should be between 15 seconds and 2 minutes long.
Instagram, 60 seconds or less…
Twitter, 45 seconds…
LinkedIn, 1-5 minutes…
YouTube, 15 minutes…
And TikTok, 30 seconds.
Now, it doesn’t matter if you get the perfect length video in front of your target audience if the content isn’t right. So, like we said earlier, you shouldn’t focus so much on length as on quality, and always keep your prospects in mind when creating both content and marketing videos; they’ll be much more effective that way.
If you have any questions on how video can help you generate more leads, conversions, and sales, or would like to have as many qualified leads as you can handle, hand delivered to you instead…
Feel free to give the experts at Conversion Media Group a call. We’re the nation’s leader in qualified live transfer leads, and we can deliver up to 200 of them daily to almost any business, in almost any vertical…
Hot and ready to convert!
Contact us HERE or give us a call at 1-800-419-3201
[1] What Video Marketers Should Know in 2023, According to Wyzowl Research (hubspot.com)
[2] 10 Video Marketing Statistics You Should Know in 2023 [Infographic] (oberlo.com)
[3] Video marketing statistics for your 2023 campaigns (dash.app)
[4] What is The Ideal Length for a Social Media Video? (hyperchatsocial.com)