Long videos vs Short videos

Brenden

Brenden

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Short videos:

Positives: Easy to make, more people are willing to watch since its shorter
Downsides: People want more content after watching ads
My experience: I recently posted a 5 second video, in 2 minutes I received a like. And only 2 people watched it so far, me and someone else.

Long videos:

Positives: A bunch more content, more for your audience, more likely to comment (more to comment about), worth watching a ad
Downsides: More to criticize, takes longer to make, more likely to receive dislike if something is bad in it
My experience: Longer it is, the less likely they'll watch. Though if its too short, they will complain. My best video was around 11 and got nearly 700 views with 7 likes,6 dislikes. Which proves the "longer it is,more to criticize" theory.

What do you think?
 
Short videos can generate a lot of comments and discussion too, it's really about quality of content vs quantity of content.

For me my longer videos (5mins+) seem to rack in views at a slower rate and aren't shared as much. People's retention is iffy, they seem to drop off as soon as the pace of the video changes.

My shorter ones (I have one that's 8 seconds lol), generate a lot more shares on Facebook and Tumblr and get more views more quickly. But personally I'm less proud of those since they were cut together really quickly and I feel I didn't put enough effort into them (if at all).
 
BTurt said:
Short videos:

Positives: Easy to make, more people are willing to watch since its shorter
Downsides: People want more content after watching ads
My experience: I recently posted a 5 second video, in 2 minutes I received a like. And only 2 people watched it so far, me and someone else.

Long videos:

Positives: A bunch more content, more for your audience, more likely to comment (more to comment about), worth watching a ad
Downsides: More to criticize, takes longer to make, more likely to receive dislike if something is bad in it
My experience: Longer it is, the less likely they'll watch. Though if its too short, they will complain. My best video was around 11 and got nearly 700 views with 7 likes,6 dislikes. Which proves the "longer it is,more to criticize" theory.

What do you think?
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Only long videos should be gaming videos, reviews, and tutorials.

Other than that it should be pretty to the point. Under 6. But everyone has different opinions
 
Most of Thrashimation's videos are ending up around the 5 minute mark, but we're committed to never having a video over 4:59. That's the right balance of the factors you mentioned, in my opinion.
 
I like short videos because:
  • I get bored if the video drags on for too long
  • I can watch more videos and not stay watching the same person for 10-30mins+
  • My analytics tells me that people watch 1/2 minutes of my videos on average so I make them shorter. :p
 
My lets plays are usually 10-15 minutes so I can get something done

Mod reviews and tutorials and stuff is around 4 minutes

Short videos do better for me but I prefer my longer videos.
 
You should check out the average viewer retention of your videos sometime. It's appalling. I try to keep most of my videos ~2 minutes, give or take. But even at those lengths, on average people only stick around for about a minute. It's kind of disheartening when you put so much work into something people only watch a fraction of.
 
I have done longer videos on another channel but in my experience, unless you have a decent sized audience, then it's better to stick to smaller videos.
 
I think when you are first starting out, short videos are the way to go as more people will be willing to watch those than really long ones. But I think once you have built up a fan base, definitely make longer ones as they want to see much more of you! I hate it when YouTubers I love only upload really short videos!! I wanna see more of them!! The longer the better! :)
 
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