Digital video is one of the fastest growing types of internet marketing content, and brands are picking up the pace to launch campaigns ahead of their competitors. When creating successful videos that will hold viewers’ interest, marketers must remember that time is of the essence. And on the ‘net, that means keeping messages short and sweet, or video viewers may not watch the full clip. According to September data from the comScore Video Metrix report, the online audience watched videos that averaged 5.1 minutes in length. This was down slightly from the length of videos people watched in August – 5.2 minutes.
This finding could be the product of a number of variables, such as companies producing shorter clips, consumers choosing to watch shorter content or viewers clicking out of videos before they’re finished playing. Marketers should look into their content analytics to determine which situation applies to their brand content so they can make smarter decisions when crafting future campaigns.
Conflicting data?
Not all reports suggest shorter is better for video marketing. In fact, last year Brafton reported that 87 percent of people who start clips longer than 2 minutes complete the videos.
Brafton reported that 87 percent of people who start clips longer than 2 minutes complete the videos.
If video landing page data shows that visitors’ average time on site is less than the video’s length, it indicates that viewers are not sticking around for the entire message. If, however, it appears that people are staying on the site long enough to watch the whole video when the clips themselves are shorter, marketers might take this as a sign that concision correlates with results.
Audience relevance and matching the viewers’ expectation may be the most important factor.
Brafton recently published a blog by Editor and amateur filmmaker Chris Hassan, who explained that creative vision must lend itself to the video marketing message and not the other way around. Check out the full post for more tips about pruning video content for maximum viewer impact.
