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Launchspark Video | How Long Should an Explainer Video Be?
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How Long Should an Explainer Video Be?

We get this question all the time.  The clients we work with usually know that shorter videos are better, but when it comes down to scripting, many start cramming in additional points that add time to their video… and consequently, diluting their message.  Most creatives depend on gut feeling when recommending a video length, partly because many individual agencies and freelancers don’t have enough data points for an accurate analysis.

 

Luckily, Wistia has published data about how viewers engage with video according to length.  The good news is that they’ve summarized millions of data points over the last couple of years… but the bad news is that they don’t segment the data according to types of video (e.g. explainer videos), although their data does pertain to business video.

 

Let’s get right to it…

 

If your video is under 60 seconds, you can expect 59% of viewers to watch the whole video.  You can expect the average viewer to watch 82% of the video if it’s between 0-30 seconds, and 75% of the video if it’s between 30-60 seconds.

 

If your video is between 1-2 minutes, you can expect 49% of viewers to watch the whole video, with the average viewer to watch 68% of the video.  It’s important to note that crossing the 60-second mark drops the completion rate by 10%.

 

And if your video is above 2 minutes, well… we don’t recommend that traditional explainer videos go that long (based on our gut instinct of course).  But if you’re interested in the data, we’ve attached the following graphs courtesy of Wistia.

 

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When writing your script, remember that about 150 words translates into one minute of video, depending on your chosen voiceover artist.

 

So how does your viewer engagement compare?