Need Advice Posting 8 min video or 4 min video

[Volfra]

I make game montages about cool kills. The video is very fast, synced with music.
Most of the videos on this niche on Youtube are only 2-4 min long (depends of the length of the song).

I have read that when video watch time is longer, then it's more advertised, so if I put maybe like 2 songs in one video, it makes the video twice as long, the video would get more views than 2 videos what are 2x shorter?

When I make 2x longer video, it takes also 2x more time, so I would post twice less.

What do you think about it? Which strategy is better?

Assume that I get 100% retention both ways. Which strategy gets me more views?

 

[Kari B]

What is your AVD like on the shorter videos? If they work for you and are quicker to put up then I wouldn't mess with success. It's OK to have more ads in your video, but if no one is watching far enough it won't make a difference and it could turn people away.
As a viewer, I'm getting really bored of having to skip twice as many ads as I used to and it has put me off some of the people I subscribe to. One midroll ad was OK but now they have three or four in each video I'm losing interest in their channel.

 

[SILTHW]

I do watch video game stuff on YouTube. I see three broad categories - montages that are usually short (under 4 minutes seems right), edited highlights from an individual's Twitch stream (usually around 20 minutes), and game play advice that seems to vary a lot.

My gut says it would be weird to have a montage that went too long. But It might work to include multiple montages with some intro in a single video. So something like "the 5 best pistol kills" then "the 5 best environmental kills", then the "5 best head shots", etc. Something where there is a break between the montages. Noobhunter does something like this.

 

[Ater]

It depends on what you have content for and the quality of the content. Make videos with a length that matches the content. If you have good content for a 4 min video it's better to make a 4 min video that is really good, getting an audience retention of 75% and that people care about and like, share and subscribe for. Compare to trying to drag it out to a half decent 8 min video that get 20% audience retention and few cares about.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Yeah nobody here can give you any amount of insight in that poll. Your answer comes down to how interesting your video is and how long your audience watches your content.

 

[Volfra]

Thanks for you answers!

But let's assume, I have 100% retention. They look full 4min and full 8 min. Which strategy would get me more views: 2x 4 min videos or 1x 8 min video?

 

[SILTHW]

Thanks for you answers!

But let's assume, I have 100% retention. They look full 4min and full 8 min. Which strategy would get me more views: 2x 4 min videos or 1x 8 min video?

I hope this is helpful - social media teaches us common conventions for things. When things don't fall into the convention we expected, we tend to tune out.

On one of my reviews I noted that the person had posted a "recipe" video but it didn't follow the expected conventions for those videos. I expect ingredients lists, prep, cooking, tasting and expect the recipe is repeated in the episode notes. That because that is how the vast majority of "recipe" videos are done.

You are talking game montage. The vast majority of those are short. They are short because watching 10 minutes of a flash-cut montage is tiring. If you wanted longer content, then the people who tend to do it that way break up the montages with inserts, descriptions, etc. so its not a constant barrage of flash-cuts.

So I feel the answer to your question is that you should watch a lot of content and stick with the conventions that are common to that content. Because that's what your audience will be expecting.

 

[Don Alabee]

it really depends on the content. Will people get bored watching an 8 minute video? Will they get all they need in a 4 minute video?