So, you’ve decided that your organization needs an explainer video.
You’ve done your research, saw that video increases engagement tenfold, and are ready to bring your non-profit kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
But before you do anything else, you need to answer this first question: how long should the video be?
As with anything, there are no clear rules but there are some helpful guidelines that might make it easier for you to figure this out.
Audiences start to drop off after 2 minutes
Wistia analyzed over 564,710 videos and came up with these results:
As you can see, the sweet spot for audience retention is up to 2 minutes long. After the 2 minute mark, viewers start to sharply drop off minute by minute (until the 6 minute mark).
So if you have a video that’s 2.5 minutes long, it might be a good idea to try and shave that extra 30 seconds to try and retain as many viewers as possible.
And shorter videos means more less production costs and time, so it’s cheaper overall for you and more engaging to the viewer. A win-win!
But the difference between 30 seconds and 90 seconds is negligible
Notice on the graph that viewer engagement is actually pretty steady all the way from 0 to 2 minutes, meaning that there’s no difference really between 30 seconds and 90 seconds.
So if you’re already under the 2 minute mark, don’t stress too much about trying to shave an extra 10-15 seconds. It won’t make a significant difference to audience retention.
But this doesn’t necessarily mean shorter is always better!
You’d think by looking at these numbers that you should NEVER have a video over 2 minutes…but that’s just not true.
The length of your video greatly depends on your content, target audience, social media platform, what you’re using the video for, and HOW you’re using the video.
For example, if you’re creating a video for internal use or training purposes, then thoroughness of information is much more important than catching as many eyeballs as possible online.
Or if your video is being sent out to members on a mailing list who are already invested in and have a relationship with your organization.
Or if you’re creating a tutorial where depth of information is the point of the video. Having a short, inefficient tutorial won’t be useful to anyone – even if it has a great audience retention rate!
There’s a 2nd sweet spot from 6-12 minutes
If you take a closer look at the graph, you’ll notice that after the 2 minute drop-off, there’s actually another plateau from 6 to 12 minutes where the audience retention rate mainly holds.
So if you have a longer narration or tutorial driven video, between 6 to 12 minutes is another sweet spot.
However, if your video starts to go over 12 minutes, be careful. As audience retention starts to drop off again from the 12 minute mark onwards.
As always, you need to consider the target audience of your video.
In determining the optimal length of your video, you need to consider what you’d like your video to accomplish – and how more depth or more brevity will affect your target audience.
A quick overview of your organization or an elevator pitch should be in and out as fast as possible. You’re most likely trying to reach as wide of an audience as possible, trying to stoke their interest.
But if you’re creating a teaching tool or educational resource, it’s good to have more information and be more thorough, or the video won’t be serving it’s primary goal of educating its audience.
General rule of thumb is: if your target audience would benefit from conciseness, then shorter is better. If they would benefit from greater depth, then let the video run longer!
Our recommendation: try to keep videos between 1.5 to 2 minutes in length
Since most of the projects we work on are explainer videos that are trying to reach as large of an audience as possible (prioritizing breadth over depth), we usually recommend that the videos stay between 1.5 to 2 minutes in length.
In our experience, 1 minute is often too short. By the time we’ve introduced the organization and the problem they’re tackling, we already have to start wrapping things up. Just try timing yourself with a stopwatch and talking about your organization to see how quickly 1 minute goes by!
And anything over 2 to 2.5 minutes starts to feel a little long. Not only will it start to lose viewers, but we find that the extra time allows the script to get a little bloated with unnecessary information.
Making a video stay within the 2 to 2.5 minute range often forces the client to trim everything but the MOST important information, which makes every second of the the video feel engaging and purposeful. Which keeps the viewer from tuning out.
As an example, one of our most popular videos was this explainer for Flippable, which was 1:45 in length and seemed to hit the perfect sweet spot. The video ended up reaching 400,000 views in just a week and was also retweeted by influencers such as Chelsea Clinton and George Takei!
Don’t try to cram everything into your video
At this point, you might be thinking to yourself, “1.5 to 2 minutes?? That’s barely enough time at all! How can I fit in everything I want to say?”
Remember, in most cases, the purpose of your video isn’t to be an exhaustively detailed and comprehensive overview of your whole organization.
It should be more like an elevator pitch. You want to give them JUST enough information to leave them wanting more.
Your video should just the first step of a greater informational pipeline.
The goal should be to grab their attention, get them emotionally and intellectually invested in your cause, and pique their interest in your organization.
The goal shouldn’t be to educate them completely. It should be to have them want to learn more.
Where they’ll click onto your website. Dive into more details. And become more involved.
Your video should just be the first step in a much longer relationship with the viewer.
So make that first impression count with the perfect length for your video’s goals and audience!