Are My 15 Second Videos Too Long?

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve created a lot of Bredemarket videos lately.

• My longer ones last a minute. That’s the length of a video I haven’t shared in the Bredemarket blog (it’s on Instagram) summarizing my client work over the last four years. My early July identity and Inland Empire reels are almost a minute long.
• But I also make much shorter ones that last about 15 seconds, such as a brief identity video (it’s on Instagram also). My repurposed identity and Inland Empire reels are also that length.

But…

Even Bredemarket’s “short” 15 second videos may be TWICE AS LONG as they should be.

The Microsoft 8 second study

In 2015, Time magazine reported on the results of a Microsoft study:

Researchers in Canada surveyed 2,000 participants and studied the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms (EEGs). Microsoft found that since the year 2000 (or about when the mobile revolution began) the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds.

As many noted, a goldfish’s attention span is 9 seconds.

Some argue that the 8 second attention span is not universal and varies according to the task. For example, a 21 minute attention span has been recorded for drivers. If drivers had an 8 second attention span, we would probably all be dead by now.

But watching a video is not a life-or-death situation. Viewers will happily jump away if there’s no reason to watch.

So I have my challenge.

Ironically, I learned about the 8 second rule while watching a LinkedIn Learning course about the 3 minute rule. I haven’t finished the course yet, so I haven’t yet learned how to string someone along for 22.5 8-second segments.