Time to Engage - How Video Duration Influences Viewer Interaction

Audience

Many content creators believe that short-form content fosters a disloyal audience that doesn't take an interest in a creator's longer videos and future endeavors. This is true to an extent.

A content creator who gets a million views on his long videos will likely have a more loyal viewer base than a creator who gets a million views on his short-form videos. But that doesn't mean that short-form content creators have zero loyal viewers. It is just that a much smaller percentage of their viewers recognize, remember, and revere them.

As a long-form content creator, you can assume that 1% of your followers/subscribers are loyal (the kind that will buy, switch platforms, and remember you in the long run). For a short-form content creator, that percentage is around 0.1%.

So, to get a loyal audience of 100 fans, you need:

• 10,000 subscribers if you are a long-form content creator.

• 100,000 followers if you are a short-form content creator.

Now, ask yourself, what is easier to achieve? Through sheer numbers, it might seem like getting 10,000 followers with long form content is easier. But in many cases, aiming for 100,000 followers with shorter videos is much more achievable.

That's why we recommend creating both long-form and short-form content.

Outcome

When selecting video duration, you should also consider the outcome you’re aiming for. Do you want fame? Do you want to monetize your audience? Do you want to promote your business?

Your primary objective will help you select the right duration for your videos.

Sustainability

Finally, the most important thing you need to consider as a content creator is how sustainable your target duration is.

And that's where content repurposing comes into the equation. Platforms like ContentFries help you turn longer videos into multiple short form videos within minutes. This lets you sustainably create both short and long form content.

If you do not have a content multiplier like ContentFries, you can either sign up for a free starter account or you can simply pick between long or short form content. At this point, you're in one of three boats.

• You want to create both long and short videos (ideal), or

• You want to create long videos only, or

• You want to make short-form content only.

The rest of this article will help you identify the impact of video length on viewer retention within each of these contexts. Analyzing the Impact of Video Duration on TikTok/Shorts/Reels Viewer Engagement

Let's start with short-form content. Since viewers do not see the exact timestamp or make a click decision, the exact length of your video does not matter as much as how engaging it is.

Generally, videos under 15 seconds have the best retention on short-form platforms like TikTok, IG Reels, and YouTube Shorts.

However, if you can make a 1-minute video and keep your viewers engaged till the end, you get rewarded with disproportionate reach. In other words, 90% viewer retention with a 1-minute video will get you much better reach than 100% viewer retention with a 15-second video.

Playbook Rule #1 - Start With The Longest Duration

Whatever the maximum video length you want to target, it should be the primary duration of your pillar content.

If you will make 20-minute videos alongside other shorter ones, start with the 20-minute one. That way, you'll be able to make shorter videos from the longer ones. But before you start repurposing, there's one more thing you need to do.

Playbook Rule #2 - Engineer The Short Form Into The Long Form

When scripting your videos, make sure to purposely make ‘clippable’ moments within the longer script of your primary video.

If you want to carve out 4 to 8 minute videos from an hour long video, make sure to dedicate 600 to 700 words of your script to a specific topic that can be clipped and packaged as its own video.

If you are looking to trim Shorts out of a 4-minute video, script small portions of the video that can be wrapped into engaging short-form videos.

But what if you're a podcaster, streamer, or educator who doesn't script his content very tightly? You can use ContentFries AI features to detect engaging snippable moments by uploading your long form video to the editor. You can also export multiple Shorts and Reels from a single long-form video with just a few clicks.

Rule #3 - Create Quality, Repurpose Quantity

Finally, the most important rule for duration domination is to master repurposing quantity. The better you get at repurposing quantity from quality, the more you can focus on quality.

ContentFries is used by creators to make an average of 36 engaging short clips from a 30-minute video. You can easily become a daily uploader even if you dedicate all your energy toward making one high-quality long-form video a month.

If you make 8 to 15-minute videos, you can easily get a week's worth of Reels, Shorts, and TikToks from your pillar content. More importantly, you can have each of your short-form videos look different to fit on different platforms.

The ContentFries context editor helps you make your videos fit different contexts. So the same clip can be exported to look different for LinkedIn than it does for IG. But what if you don't have ContentFries? You can still repurpose short clips from your long-form videos. You'll just spend 6 hours per week instead of 1 hour per week repurposing your content.

Any video editor like iMovie can be used to trim short clips from longer videos. The reason most creators do not take this route is that they don't have extra hours to spend manually trimming and transcribing their videos.

And without subtitles, short-form content just does not take off. In fact, open YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or IG Reels right now and see if you find any caption-free video with over 10,000 views.

If you want to average 10,000 views per video, you need to get serious about something beyond content repurposing. You need to get serious about retention-hacking.

For 15 Seconds To 1-Minute Duration

Videos in this range are consumed as a part of a longer scrolling ritual. Viewers don't really click on your video but instead stumble upon it as they scroll their TikTok, Reels, or Shorts feed. Why is that important?

Because when they come across your video, they have literally moved on from another video. How engaging that video is dictates how engaging your viewers expect your video to be.

So, videos in this duration frame need to be hyper-edited for maximum retention. Leverage the following hacks to glue your viewers to the screen:

• Dynamic Subtitles - These are animated captions that move and float, acting as attention-holding elements on the screen. ContentFries allows you to create dynamic subtitles with a few clicks.

• Emoji overlays - Emojis are familiar and help convey your message in a parallel language of sorts. They keep spoken word content from feeling like a boring lecture. ContentFries has an AI emojis feature that automatically sources and overlays emojis in your video captions.

• Word Highlighter - This hack gives you such an unfair advantage it is borderline cheating. It is a feature in ContentFries that automatically highlights specific words in the caption as they are spoken. Viewers’ eyes get glued to the screen because of this.

• Sound Effects - Sound Effects like "bumps", "whooshes", and "dings" can be used in conjunction with dynamic captions to create a more stimulating experience for the viewers.

For 1 Minute To 4-Minute Duration

In this duration range, people click on your video—which is a decision that you must inspire with your video packaging (thumbnail and title). After that, you have 30 seconds to hook the viewer. At that time, you can use the following tactics:

• Retention scripting - Write your video scripts to maximize curiosity.

• Stimulating music - Select music that makes people want to continue consuming your content.

• Fast-paced visuals - Use quick transitions and cuts to stimulate the viewer.

• Selective captioning - Add text on the screen to highlight specific words within the first thirty seconds. Watch the first ten seconds of a MrBeast video to get the idea.

For 4 Minute To 20-Minute Duration

Like the previous duration category, this one also requires viewers to click on your content. And if anyone does click on your video, it is for a reason. You need to gear your retention hacks towards that reason, here’s how:

• Curiosity-inspiring set-up - Use retention scripting (covered earlier).

• Foreshadowing or flashforward - Show what will happen later on so people get curious about the build-up.

• Selective captioning - Add text to the video, highlighting specific words (covered earlier).

For 20 Minutes+ Duration

Anyone who clicks on a video that's over twenty minutes long is looking to follow along for the ride. But do not take such viewers for granted, as they have one foot out the door for at least the first minute of the video. Use this minute to sell them on watching till the end. And use the following tactics.

• Retention scripting - Make a compelling case for why people should continue watching. Script the first thirty seconds very tightly.

• Good background music - Select a track that makes people want to continue watching.

• Medium-paced editing - Use cuts and transitions, but don't overdo it.