Most of our clients want a short video that is less than a minute. To start off, here’s the golden rule – shorter the video the better. But with a ceveat. Does your target audience grasp the idea when they see the video for the first time? If not, then there’s a problem. One should not go through the pain of watching a video multiple times to understand the product. To take a call, a video that is a bit longer, but projects the idea in a cool way is a clear winner. So what is the ideal time for a longer video?
Frankly there is NO ideal time. YouTube statistics give a good insight. Videos that are 15 seconds or less turns eyeballs faster than a video that is longer than a minute. But it’s next to impossible to make a video for 15 seconds. BTW most of Hollywood promos videos are made around 30 to 45 seconds (of course they spend a ton of money to promote these videos). Still, a video that can promote a product in 30 seconds is really hard, unless one is not talking about the idea and problem they are solving. For a startup video, the problem they are solving is very important. So a minute video, is a safer bet. Anything longer than that, like a minute and half is like stretching the limits. A video that is 2 minutes long is a bit long. If writing story is an art, writing a story that projects the idea in a shorter time is a challenge. But a script writer should really keep the target audience of a client in mind while creating a good story.
Here is one more insight about length of a video:
