How long should a Let's Play video be?

evilmuska

evilmuska

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This is something I've been trying to figure out for a while: the length each video in a let's play should be.

I know it really depends on a lot of factors, but I've been considering a lot of things, and I'm currently sticking with 15 mins an episode. I figure that way, people can watch them in small enough chunks where they don't have to invest a ton of time in each episode, but still not feel like they're too short. However, I've been considering bumping it up to 20 mins, so It's 3 episodes for every hour rather than 4. Any thoughts?
 
I'd say that's the perfect size for an LP, at least for the beginning stages. Once you get really popular, you might be able to get away with bumping it up to 30 minutes. But for now, 15 is great.
 
I just recently started my first Let's Play. I try to shoot for 10-15 minutes. Why shorter? It can help keep the audiences attention, rather than having them sit through a 30 minute video, not saying all viewers wont watch a 30 minute video. However, majority wont. If you go for shorter clips, try to keep consistent with uploads. One episode per day.
 
I vary from 20-25 mins, but I know what you're talking about in the length sometimes it feels too long especially for a smaller channel, it's also is dependant on the games that you play, with a shorter game you can get shorter episodes but if you're releasing 10min episodes of games like Skyrim, expect 2000+ episodes :p think i'll be merging to ALL to 20 mins soon though
 
Yeah, 15 mins seems like a good fit for me right now, It's just hard to judge that kind of thing, being new and all. I can do an hour of gameplay one day, and then edit and release videos for the next 4 days. I currently work 40 hours a week, so I'm basically spending a good amount of my free time editing each episode while trying to balance other things. I'm having trouble releasing an episode a day tho. But I've been releasing about 3-4 videos a week for the last couple weeks, so I think that's pretty decent so far.

Thanks for the quick responses so far, btw!
 
Take this into consideration. YouTube rewards watch time. If viewers are watching your whole video then you will get rewarded for it and get better search results. If they are only watching a portion of it it will be blacklisted and pushed down the search results. So if you think your videos are entertaining enough to watch the whole 15 minutes in one sitting then continue doing it. If you think that most watch portions then you may want to do less.

Look into your video analytics and see how your watch time is per video and make your videos accordingly.
 
DioniteFilms said:
Take this into consideration. YouTube rewards watch time. If viewers are watching your whole video then you will get rewarded for it and get better search results. If they are only watching a portion of it it will be blacklisted and pushed down the search results. So if you think your videos are entertaining enough to watch the whole 15 minutes in one sitting then continue doing it. If you think that most watch portions then you may want to do less.

Look into your video analytics and see how your watch time is per video and make your videos accordingly.
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That's a really good point. One I'll definitely take into consideration. Most of my videos are watched by friends right now though. So I don't really have a good idea of that currently, considering they're trying to support my efforts and watch them more than they probably otherwise would. Or maybe I'm being negative and the videos are good, I dunno. lol.
 
evilmuska said:
That's a really good point. One I'll definitely take into consideration. Most of my videos are watched by friends right now though. So I don't really have a good idea of that currently, considering they're trying to support my efforts and watch them more than they probably otherwise would. Or maybe I'm being negative and the videos are good, I dunno. lol.
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I just glanced through a chunk of videos and your watch time really depends on what game you are playing. I'd say if you are going to continue with the current series you are working with you may want to look at these analytics. Some games can probably have longer gameplay whereas others may want to cut back some time or find a way to keep attention throughout.
 
I say it would vary…try going for Checkpoints within a level or something like that to keep it shorter!
 
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