The core principle
A video should be exactly as long as it needs to be to achieve its goal, and no longer. This sounds obvious, but in practice most corporate videos are too long. The instinct when commissioning video is to include everything: the company history, the team, the full product range, the client testimonials, the awards. The result is a video that tries to do too much and connects with no one.
Length is not about how much you have to say. It is about how much your audience is willing to hear. Start with the platform and purpose, then work out the content that fits those constraints. Not the other way around.
Length by platform
Each platform has a different context. A person watching your homepage video has chosen to be there. A person scrolling their Facebook feed has not. The environment determines how much patience they have.
Instagram Reels and TikTok
Highly competitive feed environments. Hook in the first second. If you have not communicated the core message by 15 seconds, most viewers are already gone.
Facebook feed and Instagram in-feed
Slightly more forgiving, but still a scroll environment. 30 to 45 seconds is the sweet spot for awareness content and product showcases.
Homepage and landing pages
People are already on your site, which means they are already interested. A 60 to 90 second brand or overview video works well here. Shorter is fine; longer starts to see drop-off.
YouTube and dedicated video pages
Platform has a higher tolerance for longer content when the topic is genuinely useful. Tutorials, case studies, and product deep-dives can justify 2 to 3 minutes with a strong structure.
Sales presentations and proposal decks
When you are presenting to a specific, qualified buyer, a longer brand or case study film can work. The audience is there specifically to evaluate your work. Attention is higher.
Internal communications and training
Length should match the complexity of what is being communicated. A simple policy update can be 90 seconds. A full onboarding module might run 8 to 10 minutes with appropriate chapter breaks.
Length by purpose
Within each platform, the purpose of the video also shapes the right length:
- Brand awareness: Short. 15 to 45 seconds. Emotion and recognition, not information.
- Product demonstration: Medium. 60 to 90 seconds for most products. More complex products can justify up to 3 minutes if the features require it.
- Client testimonials: 60 to 90 seconds per testimonial is the standard. Anything longer and the audience starts to feel like they are watching an interview, not a recommendation.
- Corporate brand film: 90 seconds to 3 minutes. These are the most watched with full attention but also the most expensive to produce. Make the length earn the budget.
- Event highlights: 90 seconds to 3 minutes. A one-minute highlight reel is often more effective than a 10-minute recap.
The case for shorter
In almost every context except dedicated YouTube content and sales presentations, a shorter video performs better. Not because people have short attention spans, but because most videos do not justify the length they ask for. If your first 30 seconds are compelling, people will watch the next 30. If your first 30 seconds are filler, they will not.
A tighter video also forces better decisions about what to include. When you cannot have everything, you have to prioritise the most important thing. This often produces a clearer, stronger message than a video that tries to cover everything.
If you are not sure whether a video should be 60 seconds or 90, start with 60. You can always add content in a revision. It is harder to cut.
When longer is actually justified
There are genuine cases where longer video earns its runtime:
- Complex products or services: If understanding your offer genuinely requires 3 minutes of explanation, that is a real need. But be honest about whether the complexity is in the product or in the brief.
- High-consideration purchases: When your buyer is making a significant investment decision, a more comprehensive overview video helps. They are seeking information, not distraction.
- Earned audiences: An email to existing clients, a presentation to a warm lead, or a dedicated landing page for a specific product. These are audiences who have chosen to engage.
- Narrative brand films: When the story you are telling has real emotional weight, a longer runtime can serve the narrative. But the test is always whether the length serves the story, or whether the story is being stretched to fill the length.
Planning multiple lengths from one shoot
One of the most cost-effective decisions you can make when commissioning video is to plan for multiple cuts from a single shoot day. If you are producing a 90-second brand film, it is relatively inexpensive to also deliver a 30-second version for ads and a 15-second version for social media at the same time. The footage is already there; the incremental editing cost is small.
This gives you a library of content for different contexts without the cost of separate productions. Plan this in your brief before you go into production, because it affects how the shoot is structured and what footage the team captures on the day.
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