Choosing the perfect length for a video.

How long should an animated video be?

It’s one of most frequently asked questions because the length of your animated videos matter. It determines the type of message that you can convey to your audience. 

Shorter videos are often pithier and keep the story simple – excellent for raising awareness. Longer videos allow you to go into more detail, highlighting specific scenarios in which customers might use your products and how they stand to benefit. 

When you’re creating animated content there’s a lot of things to take into account, ultimately the length of the video should be decided by two factors:

1. What’s the end goal of the video?

2. Where is the video being deployed?

It’s always a good idea to have a video duration in mind before you start writing scripts or creating content. Here’s a quick guide to what can be achieved in different video lengths!

30 Seconds

30 Seconds = 70 Words (approx)

Condensing a message into just 30 seconds animated video is possible, but challenging. The purpose here should be to do something bold and brave that piques your audience’s interest and gets them engaged in whatever you’re doing. 

You’ll want to keep the story as simple as possible, highlight the critical details of your message without including any fluff. You’ll also want it to do something similar to a landing page, addressing key pain points and showing how you solve them. At the end, you’ll need to include a call-to-action for the viewer to “learn more” and go beyond the short explainer.

Tip: 30 Seconds is perfect for a social media ad, but make sure you include subtitles on your video.

60 Seconds

60 Seconds = 130 Words (approx)

Sixty seconds gives you more time to flesh out some of the benefits that you can offer your audience and lets you dig a little deeper into problems that they might face. Many of these videos take a list format, running through all the hurdles you can help your customers overcome. 

Ideally, you’ll want your video to SHOW how you solve problems. Appealing to customers visually leaves them in no doubt that your products are of genuine value. You can highlight all the ways that their lives will be better if they get on board. 

60 Second Example

90 Seconds

90 Seconds = 200 Words (approx)

Ideally, you should be able to communicate all of the benefits of your product in sixty seconds. If you can’t, then either you have a miracle product on your hands, or you’re not explaining it correctly. 

Videos that go over sixty seconds should, if possible, outline both benefits and show how a particular solution works too. You have extra time, so you can afford to go into the nitty-gritty details. 

Focusing on specifics helps to convince members of your audience who need reasons to go along with any claims about a product. Thus, a 90-second marketing story gives you the chance to explain WHY you’re able to offer the benefits that you do

90 Second Example

Tip: Including the unique features of your product is great, but make sure they are directly linked to the benefits they provide.

120 Seconds

120 Seconds = 260 Words (approx)

In general, 120 seconds is just about the maximum length that an explainer video should be. Remember, you’re not trying to produce a lecture series. The aim of the game is to give customers a quick and easily-digested rundown of what you offer. 

Why might you need a full two minutes? Businesses often go up to the maximum when they want to include things like customers success stories or case studies, showing their products in action, particularly on landing pages where attention spans are longer. 

So, in summary, the length of video that you choose depends primarily on your goals and where you’ll use it. Shorter videos are ideal for social media platforms where attention spans are lowest, while longer videos are more suited to corporate web pages where you don’t have to focus so heavily on sound-bites. 

We hope you found this guide useful, for more information on our work get in touch today.