I was wondering what is a good length for a YouTube video. Some videos are as short as 1:15, others are 20 minutes or more. What is a "happy medium" between too short or too long of a video?
How many minutes is good for a YouTube video?
(2 posts) (2 voices)
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Hi Richard - that's a good question! FIrst off since you're referring to YouTube.com, their guidelines state a maximum of 2GB and 10 minutes in length, so you'll want to keep it to that or under.
Keep in mind that there are other video-hosting services besides YouTube if you simply must create a longer video, but the answer of "how long is too long" really depends on the video itself and your audience. Personally I don't have the time or attention span for a long-ish video, which for me is anything over 5 minutes. Beyond that and my focus starts wavering.
BUT all that aside, if your video subject is a destination review, and you really have enough truly great content to fill 20 minutes, then someone who is really, really, interested in learning about that destination might happily watch for that long. Likewise if it's an instructional video on some technical topic, someone who wants to learn will likely be willing to pay attention.
For the most part though a good rule of thumb is to keep it shorter, and do multiple segments with a more specific focus - so going back to the video review of a destination, you might consider a few short videos focused on things like dining (in one video), attractions in another, lodging in a third, etc. that way folks who are interested can view them in more digestible segments as they have time.
I hope this helps!
Posted 2 years ago #
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