No one will watch a 5:00 minute product video!
So how long should your video be?
Here’s my experience-based take on deciding the length of your product video.
Guess how many times I’ve heard … “No one will ever watch a video longer than 1:00 or 2:00 minutes.”
A gazillion. Enough times to make me sigh.
I’ve heard this said by a lot of really smart people – creatives and marketing directors alike. But this statement is an oversimplification, and sometimes just plain wrong. To the facts:
According to Vidyard’s 2022 Video in Business Benchmark Report:
- In 2021, the average video length was 9:58. That’s a substantial jump from 2020’s average of just over six minutes. In comparison, the length of an average video in 2019 was close to four minutes.
- 56% of videos are under two minutes long. As videos have grown substantially more popular for sales and customer conversations, the prevalence of shorter videos isn’t surprising.
- In 2021, viewer engagement actually trended up—that is to say, viewers watched for a longer period of time. When averaged across all video lengths, 54% of viewers watched a video all the way through to the end. That’s up from 45% of viewers who did the same in 2020.
What’s your video’s purpose?
Is it consumer based, for an advertising or social media requirement? Or is your video needed for a website, where a deeper investigation of your product is more likely? In these two cases, the amount of time a customer might engage is commensurate with the venue in which your video is presented. For advertising, the video’s purpose is likely enticement – so short videos are better, say 15 to 30 seconds. For product marketing, the video’s purpose is likely persuasion by way of educating, for features and benefits. This takes longer to accomplish, especially with technically complex products, and sophisticated customers.
Is it consumer based, for an advertising or social media requirement? Or is your video needed for a website, where a deeper investigation of your product is more likely? In these two cases, the amount of time a customer might engage is commensurate with the venue in which your video is presented. For advertising, the video’s purpose is likely enticement – so short videos are better, say 15 to 30 seconds. For product marketing, the video’s purpose is likely persuasion by way of educating, for features and benefits. This takes longer to accomplish, especially with technically complex products, and sophisticated customers.
How complex is your product?
Product complexity is a primary decider of video length. Complex products and technology require detailed explanation – and evidence that will meet the customer’s needs. The shorter the video, the less time available to describe a product’s features and capabilities. If your product is really amazing and does something better, then show how. Showing how takes time (adds to video length), but improves the likeliness that prospective customers will be convinced. This leads to the ideal next step – the buying process.
Product complexity is a primary decider of video length. Complex products and technology require detailed explanation – and evidence that will meet the customer’s needs. The shorter the video, the less time available to describe a product’s features and capabilities. If your product is really amazing and does something better, then show how. Showing how takes time (adds to video length), but improves the likeliness that prospective customers will be convinced. This leads to the ideal next step – the buying process.
How sophisticated are your customers?
This is something I frequently see neglected. It’s critical to know if your customers are savvy buyers. Sophisticated customers tend to reject videos that do not adequately explain features and benefits. In these cases, simply saying “Our product is better” (as do short advertising videos) does not meet customers’ needs and expectations. Sophisticated customers most often translates to longer videos, with detailed explanations.
This is something I frequently see neglected. It’s critical to know if your customers are savvy buyers. Sophisticated customers tend to reject videos that do not adequately explain features and benefits. In these cases, simply saying “Our product is better” (as do short advertising videos) does not meet customers’ needs and expectations. Sophisticated customers most often translates to longer videos, with detailed explanations.
How sophisticated are your customers?
This is something I frequently see neglected. It’s critical to know if your customers are savvy buyers. Sophisticated customers tend to reject videos that do not adequately explain features and benefits. In these cases, simply saying “Our product is better” (as do short advertising videos) does not meet customers’ needs and expectations. Sophisticated customers most often translates to longer videos, with detailed explanations.
This is something I frequently see neglected. It’s critical to know if your customers are savvy buyers. Sophisticated customers tend to reject videos that do not adequately explain features and benefits. In these cases, simply saying “Our product is better” (as do short advertising videos) does not meet customers’ needs and expectations. Sophisticated customers most often translates to longer videos, with detailed explanations.
Side note … I once produced a ten minute long animated product video, for a chemical engineering manufacturer. The customer requested this length, and we produced it. Just before product launch, their marketing director stated … “No one will watch a ten minute video.” So we were asked to create a modified/condensed, five minute version of the video.
A year later, the ten minute video had 4x more views than the shorter version, on YouTube. Why? The longer video better explained their technology, in a thorough and convincing way, which met the expectations of their prospective customers – other engineers.
Know your customers. And consider satisfying their need for information, when determining video length.
So how long should your video be?
As a creator of all types of product videos, from B2B to consumer to software, I’ve found these lengths to work best.
Consumer Product Video; Advertising or social media applications
As a creator of all types of product videos, from B2B to consumer to software, I’ve found these lengths to work best.
Consumer Product Video; Advertising or social media applications
- 15 seconds – 1:00 minute
- 30 seconds – 3:00 minutes
- 30 seconds – 2:00 minutes
- 2:00 minutes – 5:00 minutes (or more)
Final thoughts
The length of a video should be determined by its purpose, complexity and your customers’ sophistication. And Yes – people “will” watch a 5:00 minute video. (So stop saying that, lol)
Smart buyers of complex products and technology (your customers) are likely to view short videos as useless fluff; they’ll view it as an Ad. And with Ads being viewed as offensive (simply because they are Ads), being too short can make a video ineffective and rejected.
Involve your sales team and get their input. Marketing people frequently get lost in current trends, often at the expense of understanding their own customers. Sales, however, is very likely to intimately know the customers’ wants – from direct feedback. Sales teams know the pulse of your customers, what they want, and what they don’t. So their input will not only affect your next video’s specific content – but also its length.
Conclusion … Longer videos do work, and potentially better than shorter ones.
The length of a video should be determined by its purpose, complexity and your customers’ sophistication. And Yes – people “will” watch a 5:00 minute video. (So stop saying that, lol)
Smart buyers of complex products and technology (your customers) are likely to view short videos as useless fluff; they’ll view it as an Ad. And with Ads being viewed as offensive (simply because they are Ads), being too short can make a video ineffective and rejected.
Involve your sales team and get their input. Marketing people frequently get lost in current trends, often at the expense of understanding their own customers. Sales, however, is very likely to intimately know the customers’ wants – from direct feedback. Sales teams know the pulse of your customers, what they want, and what they don’t. So their input will not only affect your next video’s specific content – but also its length.
Conclusion … Longer videos do work, and potentially better than shorter ones.
Michael G. Lomb is a 1992 graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology’s Industrial Design program. He founded MG Lomb in 1996. Since inception, Michael’s goal for the agency has remained unchanged – Develop superior creative tools for the agency’s clients.
As Creative Director. With over twenty five years’ experience, I provide my clients with unique creative ideas and new marketing strategies. I help my clients to plan and execute complex and comprehensive solutions that are innovative, unique and impactful. My on-going work, with marketing directors, from the world’s largest and most successful companies, gives me insight into the latest and most effective creative tactics. The work MG Lomb produces is shaped by this experience and insight. In this way, I advance my clients’ creative and marketing success.