60-90 seconds? Maybe yes or even no!
Relax. You’re not alone. Everyone is stuck with this same question that has been wandering in the market for so long.
But you know what? You will find many answers on the perfect length but remember, the length of your animated explainer video must not be decided based on your reference video.
While determining your explainer video length, numerous factors will play an important role and impact your decision.
Let’s go deeper into this.
How should I decide whether this is the ideal length for my explainer video or not?
Animation videos are valuable pieces of content for any organization. Hence, they need to be engaging, action-oriented, and perfect in length. Well, how do you decide that?
Explainer videos come in different types and sizes. What’s important is to understand that no one size fits all. You need to come up with the video’s timeline considering your business requirements and the goals to be attained.
Here are a few factors that will help you come up with a decision
Factor One: Product Complexity
The question is, how complex is it to explain your product, service, or app? For instance, if we talk about healthcare products Videos, crafting a script that talks about the key elements, usability, and operational process of the product within 30 seconds are an unlikely event.
Apart from the script, the illustrations and Motion Graphics to be created and performed require significant effort and considerable screen time to be felt worthy of money invested.
On the other hand, if you consider an explainer video created for a daily-need product like shoes, communicating its core features such as unique design, comfort, material type, price, and availability is much easier due to fewer graphics and animations involved.
Overall, the length depends on your product or service’s complexity levels.
Factor Two: Animation Style
Whiteboard Videos
Explainer videos created with a whiteboard style are relatively longer in length and range anywhere between 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
They contain simple to moderate graphics and portray a hand-drawn visual vibe in their video, making them highly appealing.
However, it depends on the characteristics of the product to be showcased.
Line Graphics
When we talk about line graphics, they involve less complexity due to the simplistic background elements and free-flowing graphics used in the videos.
Again, their length can range anywhere between 15 seconds to a few minutes. The best part is that the nature of line and icon-based graphics houses less complexity.
Motion Graphics
Here, you can expect good complexity because performing motion graphics on a video is not a cakewalk.
Such types of animated videos showcase different characters or illustrations in motion. Also, the background elements are designed in a way to develop a motion-based illusion for entertaining the target audience.
Hence, it’s evident from above that your motion graphics explainer video length would usually range between 90 to 120 seconds on average.
Social Media Videos
Considering the diminishing human attention span, social media calls for content that is rich in visuals and speedy enough to capture users’ attention within seconds.
Enough to say that social media explainer videos should fall between 15 to 60 seconds. This might force you to minimize the level of graphics or scene transitions but the fact is, social media users rarely entertain promoted or informational videos that go beyond 45 seconds.
3D Animation
We are sure you would have come across explainer videos set up in a 3D environment. Here, characters and elements are rotated, twisted, and animated in a 3-dimensional backdrop to give viewers a realistic experience.
Such complex movements are not easy to create. Moreover, it also depends on the nature and central theme of the video to be communicated.
Despite their complexity levels and the time it takes to produce a video, you will find 3D animated based videos ranging from 30 to 120 seconds or even longer!
Factor Three : Target Audience
Animated Explainer video characters leave a lasting impact on human minds. They give birth to emotions and provoke related thoughts.
Identifying your target audience is nothing but analyzing what they love and like to do. Video marketers lay great emphasis on researching and studying their target audience’s behavior.
Various parameters such as demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral come into the picture while selecting the target group audience.
Simply recognizing the need for your explainer video in your audience will not be sufficient.
Factor Four: Business Requirements
Every business has its own set of requirements and goals.
As an explainer video company, when businesses approach us with a brief about their product, service, app, or any customized requirement, the first thing we ask them is their ultimate goal which they wish to achieve.
Now, why is this necessary? Of course, companies do have the creative freedom to exercise but understanding their needs in terms of what, how, and why is important to come up with the best explainer videos.
For example, Tech & Financial products are naturally complex as compared to fashion and cosmetics. Creating an explainer video for such products will increase your video’s length.
To help you understand better, here are some of the best explainer video examples of the Fintech Industry
Check Out: Financial Explainer Videos
Factor Five: Explainer Video Cost
One of the most crucial factors governing the possible length of your video is cost.
The Explainer video cost is arrived at by taking into consideration various points such as the research behind coming up with a theme, video script, storyboard, voiceover, animation style, and sound.
Expect the cost to increase with every increasing second of the video. Well, today’s marketing runs on short-form content, and short-length videos ranging between 45 to 60 seconds might cost you anywhere between $1500 – $3500.
A lot of you might ask, is it mandatory to keep a check on the explainer video length? We would say – Not necessarily. But let’s understand what’s going on around in the market.
The Video’s Length: Does it really matter?
Users check out the duration of the video as soon as they click on the Play button. This behavior can be said to be subconsciously navigated by human psychological factors.
Indeed, that doesn’t answer your question.
Many video marketers believe that the explainer video length doesn’t matter as far as it fulfills the viewer’s intent.
Now, this objective can be met by creating a compelling script that contains a solid hook and a strong justification regarding WHY the user should watch your video.
Also, there’s no point in purposely restricting yourself from producing a longer video that violates the across-industry template of 60, 90, or 120 seconds.
Every video type has its own need, USP, and target goal to be achieved.
At MotionGility, we believe the sweet spot can be found between 60 to 120 seconds.
You might even come across a situation where your whiteboard animation video lasts 75 seconds as compared to the 120 seconds of your competitor. Honestly, it doesn’t make much of a difference.
We were wondering whether you are still unsure whether explainer videos will make your business experience steady growth or not.
Our detailed Explainer Video Guide might help you with this.
Read Also:
Parting Words
We are pretty sure that by now, you got a great understanding regarding the length.
The truth is, there exist no boundaries or parameters that must be followed in this case.
To conclude, it’s your video and so should be your decision!
Frequently Asked Questions
The length of an explainer video can vary depending on the complexity of the topic being covered and the specific goals of the video. In general, it is best to keep the video as short as possible while still effectively conveying the necessary information.
A good rule of thumb is to aim for a video that is between 90 seconds and 2 minutes in length. This allows you to cover the main points of the topic without overwhelming the viewer with too much information.
If you need to include more information, you can consider breaking the video up into multiple shorter videos or creating a series of videos that cover different aspects of the topic in more depth.
There are several factors that can affect the length of an explainer video:
- The complexity of the topic
- The target audience:
- The video’s purpose:
- The format of the video:
- The length of the script:
In general, the length of an explainer video will depend on the specific needs and goals of the project.
It is important to strike a balance between providing enough information to effectively communicate the message, while also keeping the video concise and engaging for the viewer.
No, you should not decide the length of your explainer video based solely on production cost. While cost is an important factor to consider, it is not the only factor. You should also consider the purpose of the video, your target audience, and the message you want to convey.
These factors will help you determine the appropriate length for your explainer video. It is better to have a well-crafted, concise video that effectively communicates your message than a longer video that is poorly made or fails to deliver your intended message.
The ideal length of a social media video will depend on the platform you are using and the type of content you are sharing. Here are some general guidelines to consider:
- Facebook: Facebook recommends keeping your videos between 1 and 2 minutes. However, research has shown that Facebook videos that are between 3 and 5 minutes tend to perform the best.
- Instagram: On Instagram, you can post videos that are up to 60 seconds long. Research has shown that videos that are between 30 seconds and 1 minute tend to perform the best on this platform.
- Twitter: Twitter has a time limit of 2 minutes and 20 seconds for uploaded videos. However, research has shown that shorter videos tend to perform better on this platform, so it’s generally a good idea to keep your videos under 1 minute.
- TikTok: TikTok has a time limit of 15 seconds for individual video clips, but you can string together multiple clips to create a longer video. Research has shown that TikTok videos that are between 15 and 60 seconds tend to perform the best.
Overall, it’s important to keep your audience in mind and consider what they are most likely to engage with. The most important thing is to create content that is engaging and tells a compelling story, regardless of its length.
There are a few reasons why a short video might be better than a long one:
- Small Attention Span
- Lack of Time
- Increase Retention
- Better Accessibility Across Platforms
That being said, there are also situations where a long video might be more appropriate. It really depends on the subject matter and the goals of the video.
