Video length - the shorter the better?

[Manny Teh]

So, I have always made nice and short video, maybe around 2-3mins area for what I do. But I've found that creating something longer could be useful especially if it's something like tutorials, guides etc that will help the audiences who watched your video, but then surely the longer the video is the less likely people will watch it, unless the informations you provided are useful and worthy their time to watch all of it. What do you think?

 

[Cephus]

It depends on what your viewers want. I polled mine a while back and found that their "sweet spot" was in the 10-15 minute range. That's mine too. I would rather watch a 10 minute video than a 20 minute video and unless it's a subject I really want to see, sitting through a half-hour or longer video doesn't happen often. Depending on your topic, it may not be possible to do really short videos and still cover the subject matter.

 

[Highfalutin' Low Carb]

I have found great success with longer videos. (20-30 mins or longer.) There are so many people “cutting the cord” these days and dropping cable and satellite, myself included. I watch YouTube on a 75” big screen tv in my living room. I specifically look for long-form content. I don’t want to search for another video every 3-5 minutes. That drives me insane. Apparently, lots of other people agree, becuase my subscriber growth has been fantastic, and my watch time stats are through the roof.

Long story short, don’t artificially inflate the length of your videos. Likewise, don’t artificially cut your videos down to a couple of minutes, either. Tell the story you want to tell the way you want to tell it and do it at a length you are comfortable with. If it’s quality content, the viewers will follow, regardless of video length.

 

[Manny Teh]

I have found great success with longer videos. (20-30 mins or longer.) There are so many people “cutting the cord” these days and dropping cable and satellite, myself included. I watch YouTube on a 75” big screen tv in my living room. I specifically look for long-form content. I don’t want to search for another video every 3-5 minutes. That drives me insane. Apparently, lots of other people agree, becuase my subscriber growth has been fantastic, and my watch time stats are through the roof.

Long story short, don’t artificially inflate the length of your videos. Likewise, don’t artificially cut your videos down to a couple of minutes, either. Tell the story you want to tell the way you want to tell it and do it at a length you are comfortable with. If it’s quality content, the viewers will follow, regardless of video length.

that's very useful information and advice, the numbers of subscribers in your account does suggest it, and to think that 10,000 people have viewed your 30mins long video, that, i can imagine that your watch time will go up and it will definitely help your channel getting monetized, that's one thing also i have found that youtube have take into account your last 12 months of watch time, so in order to have a chance to be reviewed you need at least 4000 hours of views in the last 12 months and that can be an issue if you have some inactivities in between, so in that sense to have longer video and to also have quality contents in it will help your channel in terms of view time and hitting your 4000 hours goal.

 

[Curiosity Ridge]

Generally I try to make my videos around five minutes, in my limited experience i have found that the payoff decreases after that point. but after reading some of the other comments above mine indicate something else. I guess at the end of the day it depends on your audience.

don't make your video 10 minutes if it could be done in 8. people recognize filler and will click away.

 

[ethanharm]

Youtube's algorithm works by watch time. More people are likely to find your video if you can make it 10+ minutes and keep them watching the whole video. If you find that people are leaving after the 3 or 4 minute mark than you should probably keep it that length. The more minutes watched the more the video is promoted by youtube.

 

[Ezrider92356]

keep filler to a min don't make the video's any longer than they need to be. my video length depends a lot on the content of the video. your watch time analytics both absolute and relevant are excellent tools I study them pretty religiously on every video.

 

[RCS]

Depending on the content, it might be a good idea to post condensed versions of longer videos afterward.

 

[Johnjackallen]

I tend to make my videos as long as they need to be, so some are 15+ minutes while others are around 3 or 4.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to do it. But I don't like lengthening or shortening my videos just for the sake of it.

 

[Ezrider92356]

I tend to make my videos as long as they need to be, so some are 15+ minutes while others are around 3 or 4.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to do it. But I don't like lengthening or shortening my videos just for the sake of it.

I do the same thing. I do generally have an idea of a target video length though based on the topic before I start editing based on the topic. nothing scientific just a simple topic I may feel should be 5-6 mins something that's a little more involved I may feel it should be covered within 10 mins ect.