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What is the best timing for the commercial video?
Do you know what modern humans and aquarium fish have in common? They can’t concentrate on anything for more than nine seconds. This is not irony or metaphor, but a scientifically proven fact! According to a big study by “Wistia”, today your business video has 8.25 seconds to grab a user’s attention. And you still can’t hold it for long, especially when it comes to advertising.
Fascinating statistics
Videos under two minutes give the highest engagement rate, 56%.
Between the 2nd and 3rd minute, viewer engagement drops significantly.
Between the 6th and 12th minutes, you have another chance to hook the audience.
After the 12th minute, the chance of losing the viewer increases many times over.
Is there perfect timing for a business video?
Of course not. But there are a few important factors that can help you calculate the optimal length. What is the purpose of the video? At what sites will be broadcast video? Who is the target audience?
Based on these questions, it is easy to decide on the type of video for the business, and from this follows an optimal timing. Based on our own experience, we recommend the following standards:
Explainer video – 90 seconds or more
Image video – 60-120 seconds
Video advertising on YouTube/TV/social networks – 15-59 seconds
The Kinetic Social research of “catching up” videos on Facebook clearly shows the benefits of the optimal format of 60-90 seconds. It clearly shows that the rule “the shorter, the better” is not so clear-cut. In videos shorter than 30 seconds viewers do not see the value, so they are often skipped. Commercials longer than 2 minutes are poorly viewed. It turns out that the golden mean – 60-90 seconds.
What else is important to keep a user’s attention?
Be creative
According to Nielsen research, 60% of the effectiveness of business videos depends on the originality of the script and visuals. Try not to Save on ad creative.
Adapt content for different venues…
One of the most common mistakes our clients make is to make the same video for TV and for YouTube. The nuance is that the viewer consumes video content online and on TV differently. In the first case, he decides for himself what and how long to watch! Therefore, it is important to catch his attention in the first 8 seconds.
… and for different devices.
When a user watches a video from a smartphone, they don’t pay much attention to the small details. Keep this in mind when thinking about the design and concept of your video.
Previews are more important than you think
An example from our practice. We analyzed our website and saw that only 15% of visitors watched the video on the home page. After changing the previews, the figure went up to 25%. You have to experiment with previews and run A/B tests. YouTube Analytics has a tab that allows you to compare the clickability of different video thumbnail options for businesses. Test, compare, change!
For example, “Wargaming” boosted their CTR by 22% simply by changing the color scheme for their previews.
Pay attention to the peculiarities of the language
It takes about a minute for a voiceover actor to read 160 words in English.
Always work with professionals
As you’ve learned from the above, there are no easy answers to video advertising. Every little detail can be essential.
In order not to waste your budget, we recommend working not with ordinary video studios but with video production agencies that take a comprehensive approach to video development for business: they understand video types and their specifics, have rich experience of various projects in absolutely different niches.
If you choose such agencies, you can be sure that they will choose the optimal timing for your video for business, and as many potential clients as possible will watch it!
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