How long should your videos be? The perfect video length

Perfect Video Length:

Tik Tok, Tik Tok - Time is running, Time is money!
Have you ever been to a bazaar? Your money well hidden, your backpack pressed to your body, while trying to avoid eye-contact with the numerous vendors? Thousands of new impressions assail your eyes and ears, a constant babble of voices from people praising their goods. You think you are well prepared, going to the bazaar. You may think you know the tricks vendors use, to lure you into their small shops. For example, calling you “Burj Khalifa” because you are tall, or your brunette friend is suddenly named “Angelina Jolie”. You may expect sleeve-pulling: “I have a special price - just for You!” and the like. But then you hear something totally different and unexpected: “I show you the best view in town, only 2 minutes! Follow me.”

At this moment, you would do anything to escape the noise and the heat of the place and its small alleys. You lift your gaze, intrigued. Ah! Your first mistake - you realize that immediately - but, only 2 minutes? A little adventure lies ahead. Are you going to follow the stranger? What could possibly happen – it's in the middle of the day and you are not carrying that much money on you. Besides you already made eye-contact with this stranger. Will you follow him?

Well, what can I say, this is exactly what happened to me, when I visited the capital of Tunisia with friends. My little adventure was rewarded by a fantastic view over the bazaar of Tunis. What I payed for trusting a stranger? Well, the nice view was conveniently based on the roof of his shop! But hey, the 2 minutes paid out in the end. I was able to take amazing pictures, while my friends bought half the store and filled the purse of our savvy guide!

Um, what has this story to do with video length, you might wonder?

Well, do you think I would have said yes to this random stranger in the alley if he would have told me about a 30 minute walk, or even 10 minutes?  See? You almost always have 2 minutes. Be it to answer a question of a co-worker, get a coffee or to do something else real quick.

We are living in a time, where the real bazaar is situated in the internet. Here we are constantly confronted with commercials and video-ads, therefore Explanatory-films and Image-films should best be short and diverting. A short glance at the playtime of a video often decides, wether people are willing to click play or scroll onward. In short, you might get ignored, if you ask for to much time. The perfect length of videos, according to (my) experience, lies around 2 minutes. This may sound awfully brief, but this is the general length of most people's patience.

Of course the content of those 2 minutes needs to be on point as well! You will find lots of videos online, that feel loveless and unappealing. Watching even 20 seconds of them will feel like eternity.

As always there exist exceptions to this rule. There are videos, which are that visual stunning and entertaining, that 15 minutes playtime will feel like a blink of the eye. It is not really a deliberate decision to watch them, you will simply get pulled under their spell!

And this is the kind of content that we aim for. Just make it 2 minutes, so people will actually watch it!