How Long Should a Corporate Video Be?
As long as it needs to be, and not a second longer. We know that sounds like a dodge, but it's the most useful thing we can tell you. The length of a film is the result of decisions about who's watching and what they need to come away with.
There are conventions, though. Different kinds of film have different tolerances, and knowing them will help you write a better brief and set expectations everyone can live with.
The attention span myth
You'll have seen the figures about attention spans shrinking to eight seconds and viewers leaving after thirty. Some of it is real and a lot of it is misquoted. Mostly it misses the point.
People will sit through a three-hour film if it holds them, and they'll click away from a thirty-second one if it doesn't. So the useful question isn't how short you can make it. It's how long the thing you're trying to say actually takes to say.
If you can say it clearly in ninety seconds, a three-minute film wastes everyone's time. If it really needs three minutes, cutting it to ninety means losing the parts that made it worth watching.
A guide by format
Brand film: 90 seconds to 3 minutes
A brand film has to establish something true about an organisation, usually through its people, and that takes longer than a promo. Most of the brand films we make land between ninety seconds and two and a half minutes. Much shorter and it's hard to build any feeling for the place, and past three minutes you're relying on a very strong story to keep people to the end.
Promotional video: 30 to 90 seconds
A promo has to catch attention, make its case and tell people what to do next. Sixty seconds is enough for a well-made one. The fifteen to thirty second end is for paid social, where you're fighting for attention and the message has to come first.
Explainer video: 60 to 120 seconds
An explanation is less gripping than a story, so explainers need to be short. Two minutes is about the limit before people drift, and if your product needs longer than that, you're probably explaining too many things at once. The best explainers we've made came in under ninety seconds, because the limit forced the script to get clear.
Testimonial and case study film: 60 to 180 seconds
A testimonial built around one story usually runs sixty to ninety seconds. That's enough for someone to say who they are, what the problem was and what changed. A fuller case study film, with the background and the approach as well as the result, can take two or three minutes. The risk is letting it run because there's a lot to say, so every minute has to move the story on.
Social media video: 15 to 60 seconds
Each platform has its own norms. On LinkedIn, sixty to ninety seconds is fine because people expect some substance, while on Instagram thirty seconds is nearer the ceiling. Whatever the platform, if you haven't caught someone in the first three seconds, the length of the rest doesn't matter.
Training video: one topic per module
Training is the exception to the shorter-is-better rule, because a film covering a complex process has to cover the process. The discipline is different. Each module should deal with one topic, and five to ten minutes is a good target, so more short modules usually beats fewer long ones.
When longer is better
A longer film earns its length when the audience has chosen to be there. A thirty-minute documentary for your most interested prospects is a different thing from a ninety-second film for someone landing on your homepage. The people who press play on it want the depth.
A strong story buys time too. If there are real people and something real at stake, viewers will stay with it, and the OakNorth recruitment film holds attention because of the people in it rather than its running time. Staff watching a film about their own company will also sit through more than outsiders, because they already care how it turns out.
The edit decides the length
Most clients don't expect this, but the length question shouldn't really be settled at the brief. We start every project with a target length based on the format, and the final length gets decided in the edit, with the material in front of us.
Sometimes a film runs longer than planned because the material earns it. More often it comes in shorter, because a good edit cuts whatever isn't working. If you watch a rough cut and think a section could go without the film losing anything, it should go.
FAQ
Is a two-minute video too long for a homepage?
Not if it's a strong brand film that earns the time. What matters is whether the first twenty seconds give people a reason to stay for the rest.
Should the length be the same on every social platform?
No. Cut it separately for each one, because a sixty-second LinkedIn edit and a fifteen-second Instagram Reel are different films even when they share the footage.
What if we want a longer film than you'd recommend?
We'll always say what we think the right length is and why. Sometimes there are internal reasons that outweigh the general rule, and then we'll make the best film we can at the length that's agreed.
Bring us the problem. We'll make the film.
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