How Long Should Your Video Be?
The Goldfish Wins!
The rumours are true! Studies show that the cognitive consequence of the endless deluge of information available at our fingertips is: attention spans shorter than the goldfish.⁴ Bloop.
Experts tell us that we have an allocated attention time in our collective minds, but the items competing for that attention has become more densely packed.² As we are inundated with choices, our innate programming to favour “newness” will cause us to oscillate between topics more regularly. No wonder then for the abundance of statistics that scream “55% of people stay less than 15seconds on a page!” ³.
Wait.. a minute sec… Less than 15 seconds on a page? Where does that leave the video on the page? How does that impact video duration and video production?
THE SHORTER, THE BETTER...?
But think about this: time flies when you’re enjoying yourself. Have you watched a video from start to finish, relishing every second of it, and realizing at the end that it felt shorter than it actually was?
This actually brings us back to how we felt when we first watched 女儿, which was a whopping 8 mins and 19 seconds! It led to our journey behind the scenes, distilling the magic of video production.
(Image Credit To: Apple)
Can your video production possess the same zsa zsa zsu?
Does the answer lie within the length of videos as current trends suggest?
Let us compare a Video, to a Date.
Imagine you are on a date, and you want to tell them ALL about yourself AND keep his/her attention before they become bored and excuse themselves to the toilet after a few seconds, only to never return (disclaimer: this is not dating advice!). Will you be able to succeed by just keeping the date short .... and leaving them puzzled?
Pucker up instead of feeling puzzled! A puuuurfect ending to a puuuuurfect date, just the way we like it.
(Image Credits To: Disney’s Lady and the Tramp)
Perhaps the key does not lie solely in hacking mercilessly away at the duration of your video. The stars will need to align! As with all things in life - be the right one, in the right place, at the right time. Now, that may just be the key to winning hearts and making your audience stay before they scroll / click away... forever.
Let’s start aligning the stars!
Are You the Right One?
“It’s not you, it’s me” - Have you heard the oldest break-up excuse in the book? We would never want our “date” to feel that they are barking up the wrong tree with us! Then how can we let them recognise that we are the “right one” for them?
Your “date” is your “target audience”. Identifying and having a clear idea of your “target” is a crucial step; this will allow you to successfully maneuver your message in a way that not only interests them, but also lets them easily understand what you are trying to get across and eventually win their hearts!
Right Place, Right Time
Now that you have figured out your “date”/“target”, consider this - you want to spend all night telling your date your entire life story, BUT, your date loves and wants a good karaoke session. You end up at the KTV they prefer but you’d also have to keep in mind that you only have 2 - 3 hours of karaoke with them in a very noisy room before parting. Plan wisely, knowing these constraints!
For video production, different platforms (KTVs) attract different demographic profiles. For example, research shows that young adults between the ages of 18 - 24 favour Instagram and Snapchat; Facebook remains one of the most widely used social media sites among adults, but they are slowly losing popularity with the younger crowd.⁵ Know which “KTV” your “date” most likely enjoys hanging out at!
Different platforms also pose different time limitations that you have to consider. So here’s a gentle heads up that social media sites like Instagram and Facebook have specific time limitations for various types of video posts! When planning your video production, make sure that your video and its possible permutations fit within all your intended platforms. Otherwise, you may not be able to fully realise your video’s potential. Finish singing your songs in time.. everywhere!
Backup dancers or not, make sure you serenade like Queen Britney, so that your “dates” will be asking for you to Gimme More!
(Image Credits To: Jay Roach’s Austin Powers in Goldmember )
Sing the Right Song
Britney aside, before even starting video production, we have to first know your content. Trying to sing when we don’t know the song, can result in confusion and catastrophe!
What do you intend to achieve from this? Why are you “singing” in the first place? What purpose is it meant to serve? This is inextricably linked to what kind of video you end up producing; do you mean to produce:
A teaser/ trailer video for an upcoming campaign meant to entice, hook and intrigue?
An explainer video that highlights your product/ service /business in a compelling and concise way, meant to encourage potential “dates” to reach out and take action?
Or an end to end educational video jam packed with a mighty amount of crucial information that needs to be brought across?
This is just the tip of the iceberg on the kinds of videos out there that you may wish to produce.
Back to the duration (ie how long you should be singing) - remember: the more detail you wish to include about yourself, the more time you/your video would need.)
Mad skillz are necessary to maintain the precarious balance between singing songs only you like to hear (ie nonstop talking all about yourself) and keeping them strategically hooked + getting the message across. Keep the balance and it may just keep your “dates” close or even actively searching for more about you after the video is done and dusted!
For all the budding Casanovas out there...
Duration is a tool that serves your purpose. If you focus way too much on the itsy bitsy of how long your date should last, you may miss out on having a good and memorable time with your beau. Don’t forget that we ultimately want our viewers to enjoy and hark back to our video!
Enjoy… Hark Back… To your good & memorable times with your beau…
(Image Credits To: Warner Bros. Looney Tunes’ Pepé Le Pew)
Consider all your ingredients carefully during the process of video production, so that your video, be it 10 seconds, 2 minutes or 10 minutes long, is attractive enough for your audience to stay till the end. If these still boggles your mind, you can always count on us to do the timekeeping AND the planning for an advertising / branding / commercial / corporate / event / marketing video that is bound to win the hearts and get people addicted.
Call Us… & Fix a Date! 😉
References:
Technical University of Denmark, Abundance of information narrows our collective attention span.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-04/tuod-aoi041119.php
The Guardian, Global attention span is narrowing and trends don't last as long, study reveals.
TIME, What You Think About the Web Is Wrong.
https://time.com/12933/what-you-think-you-know-about-the-web-is-wrong/
TIME, You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish.
Pew Research Center, Share of U.S. adults using social media, including Facebook, is mostly unchanged since 2018
Read Also: Did Smartphones Kill The Video Star?
Apple released their annual Lunar New Year promotional video - 女儿 (Daughter), which was shot entirely on the new iPhone 11 Pro. But behind initial ‘wow’s for the smartphone’s abilities, discover behind the scenes exactly how much more (people, equipment and planning) it takes to produce such a stunning video with a camera phone!
