Is there any rhyme or reason to the length a video should be? We find that our 10-12 min videos do great, but then our intro video is gaining speed too?
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YouTube Tips Length of Video?
- Thread starter Boating Journey
- Start date
As long as the video needs to be and not a second more. You can't deal with hypothetical, YouTube is looking at behaviors of users, if your content keeps people watching it's what YouTube cares about, what helps you even more is if people watch more videos from you, from the first
OP
OP
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Yeah don't focus on making a certain length video so much... make it as long as it needs to be. You don't want to cram a bunch of fluff footage to make it longer than it needs to be, and you don't want to cut it so short that nobody understands the story that is being presented.
Things to Consider:
1. Videos that are 10+ minutes get mid-roll ads, and even if you aren't monetized you need to consider this if monetizing that video when you do become YPP.
2. One of the biggest things YouTube looks at when suggesting your videos is the average amount of time it is being viewed... so a 5 minute video with 50% watchtime will perform better than a 10 minute video with a 20% AVD (if they get the same number of views). That of course is dependent on how many other videos yours causes people to watch (so endscreens and cards play in to this equation).
3. The overall average view duration for a video on YT is something like 6 minutes... keep that in mind. if you are going to keep peoples attention longer than 6 minutes you are tasking yourself with creating a video that is better than the average video.
4. I believe the average view duration for a video found in search is closer to 3 minutes.
5. Take into consideration other videos when you are determining a proper video length. For example, if you do a video about Grady White boats do a search for Grady White Boats. You may want to study other thumbnails that top this list as this is what you will be competing against, but also look at the length of these videos. This will tell you a lot about what people are watching on the topic, but it also exposes what people don't have. If all the videos are 30 second clips it may behoove you to make a ten minute video; be the first to serve that audience with a longer, more thought out video.
Just some random thoughts on the subject, good luck!
Things to Consider:
1. Videos that are 10+ minutes get mid-roll ads, and even if you aren't monetized you need to consider this if monetizing that video when you do become YPP.
2. One of the biggest things YouTube looks at when suggesting your videos is the average amount of time it is being viewed... so a 5 minute video with 50% watchtime will perform better than a 10 minute video with a 20% AVD (if they get the same number of views). That of course is dependent on how many other videos yours causes people to watch (so endscreens and cards play in to this equation).
3. The overall average view duration for a video on YT is something like 6 minutes... keep that in mind. if you are going to keep peoples attention longer than 6 minutes you are tasking yourself with creating a video that is better than the average video.
4. I believe the average view duration for a video found in search is closer to 3 minutes.
5. Take into consideration other videos when you are determining a proper video length. For example, if you do a video about Grady White boats do a search for Grady White Boats. You may want to study other thumbnails that top this list as this is what you will be competing against, but also look at the length of these videos. This will tell you a lot about what people are watching on the topic, but it also exposes what people don't have. If all the videos are 30 second clips it may behoove you to make a ten minute video; be the first to serve that audience with a longer, more thought out video.
Just some random thoughts on the subject, good luck!
OP
OP
Wow! Thanks for the great info! We had no idea!
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It's simple: It depends on the story. You've likely watched a ton of movies and TV shows in your lifetime. Study motion picture a bit, and you'll fall into your natural way of telling a story.
There's nothing worse than a 3 minute video stretched to 10 minutes; likewise a 30 minute documentary film crammed into 3 minutes is just as bad. It's an "organic" feel thing. You already know how long your videos should be because of all the visual data you've amassed in watching movies and such. It's just a matter of educating yourself more formally and incorporating that into your videos.
There's nothing worse than a 3 minute video stretched to 10 minutes; likewise a 30 minute documentary film crammed into 3 minutes is just as bad. It's an "organic" feel thing. You already know how long your videos should be because of all the visual data you've amassed in watching movies and such. It's just a matter of educating yourself more formally and incorporating that into your videos.
I never thought about that with video length. I understand it needs to be as long as it needs to be, but if the average watch time is 5-6 minutes and you need you % to be high, I guess its best to keep it shorter. Great advice. Thx
As a gaming channel my son let's it roll until he gets a win or if he feels he will get one in the next match he will keep it rolling!!
Gaming vids are completely different. Those people subscribing and watching are expecting a long vid. At least thats my opinion
OP
OP
Thanks for the feedback that's what I thought!!
A lot can depend on your genre. As mentioned above, gaming vids tend to be longer. But a gaming hint/walkthrough probably just short enough to show the scene in question.
I was playing with different video lengths, by looking at my analytics. My average view was 4 minutes... so I tried to make 4 minute vids... and my average dropped to 2 minutes. Then I looked at the analytics properly and saw that a majority of my vids have a 50% retention. The 8 minute vids were getting the 4 minutes. Now I just try to make it right for the topic at hand. Some people click away early, some stay until the end. My average is still 50%, whether it is a 5 minute or 30 minute vid.
My vacation and city tour vids can be long or short depending on where I am, and what I am showing. My 'talking head' rambling about life overseas vids can be pretty long... ok... too long ha ha. Honestly my last vid was a rambling 18 minutes about the lockdown. It has over 10 minutes average view duration, and a CTR over 8%. I thought it was too long, but I am very happy with the stats so far. People are clicking and staying.
It really depends on your audience, and your topic.
I was playing with different video lengths, by looking at my analytics. My average view was 4 minutes... so I tried to make 4 minute vids... and my average dropped to 2 minutes. Then I looked at the analytics properly and saw that a majority of my vids have a 50% retention. The 8 minute vids were getting the 4 minutes. Now I just try to make it right for the topic at hand. Some people click away early, some stay until the end. My average is still 50%, whether it is a 5 minute or 30 minute vid.
My vacation and city tour vids can be long or short depending on where I am, and what I am showing. My 'talking head' rambling about life overseas vids can be pretty long... ok... too long ha ha. Honestly my last vid was a rambling 18 minutes about the lockdown. It has over 10 minutes average view duration, and a CTR over 8%. I thought it was too long, but I am very happy with the stats so far. People are clicking and staying.
It really depends on your audience, and your topic.
There are lots of different views on this but ultimately I don't think it matters how long the video is as long as it is engaging, my data supports this