Long VS Short Videos?

Wiggly Cinema

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I read an article not too long ago about the ideal duration for videos on each social media platform. Youtube clocked in with 3-4 minutes being the ideal length. Obviously if you have followers that want more of you, or your content is really entertaining then it doesnt matter so much, but they're the stats for average viewership on youtube.
Yea that's what I typically shoot for.
 

DewmOnline

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Depends on the content, I know with gaming videos (what I do) 3-4 minute videos are really hard to do, like...do I take a 30 minutes level and try to reduce it down to 3 minutes?
What if I'm doing a walk-through and/or tutorial on a game..

So yeah..depends on content.
 
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Wiggly Cinema

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Depends on the content, I know with gaming videos (what I do) 3-4 minute videos are really hard to do, like...do I take a 30 minutes level and try to reduce it down to 3 minutes?
What if I'm doing a walk-through and/or tutorial on a game..

So yeah..depends on content.
Yea I know how that is. It's not easy.
 
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I was very curious about this myself. Do people even watch long gameplay or should I just post 10 minute videos of cut clips to watch. I want to release resident evil soon but is it worth it to make 30-45 minutes clips if no one will watch because of the length
 

Wiggly Cinema

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I was very curious about this myself. Do people even watch long gameplay or should I just post 10 minute videos of cut clips to watch. I want to release resident evil soon but is it worth it to make 30-45 minutes clips if no one will watch because of the length
That sounds great! If I was you, and I'm no professonal so don't take this to the bank lol, but I'd shoot for around 20 to 25 minutes unless its the first video and the intro scene tutorial is long or something.
 
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well for resident evil I have a few options. I could film each individual chapter cut out anysecond or third failed attempts and put that out. or just cap each video at 30-45 minutes I am doing a entire playthrough in one sitting
 

wasabiroots

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Right. When it comes to audience retention and which length is the best. Well who knows.

I guess you should experiment with your own videos to see the percentage you get for your videos like which type of edits/topics gets watched more etc. Start with short videos and slowly increase its length. Mine is still around 50% average no matter the length(with a few exceptions). I have videos ranging around 2-15 minutes long, mostly are 5-7 minutes long.

But then there's also the case where youtube shows the videos to certain demographics which we can't control. Like... A month ago, a video of mine was getting good retention and a good few hundred views a day but the retention and views dropped all of a sudden which when I checked the demographic, sources and the devices used for the video, it DID actually change. I've had other videos that experienced this in the past as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Oh well...

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DewmOnline

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Right. When it comes to audience retention and which length is the best. Well who knows.

I guess you should experiment with your own videos to see the percentage you get for your videos like which type of edits/topics gets watched more etc. Start with short videos and slowly increase its length. Mine is still around 50% average no matter the length(with a few exceptions). I have videos ranging around 2-15 minutes long, mostly are 5-7 minutes long.

But then there's also the case where youtube shows the videos to certain demographics which we can't control. Like... A month ago, a video of mine was getting good retention and a good few hundred views a day but the retention and views dropped all of a sudden which when I checked the demographic, sources and the devices used for the video, it DID actually change. I've had other videos that experienced this in the past as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Oh well...

Hmm interesting. Well you have quiet a larger audience.. so more numbers to go off of. But like I said before, in my personal opinion it has to do with content.

Vlogs and stuff 4-7 minutes
tutorials 1-30 minutes
hectic gaming videos 8-14 minutes
longer relaxing gaming videos (AKA someone isn't screaming the whole time) 10-40 minutes.
 

ImSoLugo

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As a newer youtuber I believe shorter videos are better regardless of content. I'm experimenting with 5 minute lets plays and theyre doing quite well. It's just easier for people to sit through them. As newer youtubers we really need to differentiate ourselves and we don't have a lot of time to do that. For me personally when I see a video longer than 10 minutes I often times don't bother or watch 5 minutes and then leave. Once you have a following and people want to see you then they are willing to give you more of their time. But at least for me personally I'd rather up my chances of people watching everything. Even if they did want to see more then that gives them reason to subscribe :)
 

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I tend to prefer short videos, 5-12 minutes is usually about right for me. However, if I find a video that I really like then I'll want it to be longer, and long enjoyable videos are one of the things that draw me to channels. I only watch the first 3-4 minutes of a lot of videos to see whether I'll enjoy them, but I don't think I'd want to subscribe to a channel that only puts out 3-4 minute videos.

I try to make videos of the length that I'd want to watch myself, but it's difficult. Like I'll make a let's play and have trouble finding stuff to cut. One of my videos was about 20 minutes long raw, and after an hour of editing it was 16-something minutes and I couldn't find anything else that I didn't have a problem with cutting. So I ended up cutting only 3-4 minutes of a ~20 minute video.