There is much debate about the optimized Length of videos for various media. Television has had set lengths for years, but the debate still rages–is :15 better than :30 or :60?  

Wistia looked at more than 500,000 videos and more than 1 billion plays to conduct research on video length and Engagement. They found that 2 minutes is the sweet spot. Videos up to 2 minutes get “tons of engagement.” What is surprising is that a 90-second and 30-second video will have the same engagement levels so there is no need to worry about length until you reach 2 minutes.

According to the research, after 2 minutes “every second counts.” The drop-off from 2 to 3 minutes is significant, so if you are going to make a 150-second video, it would behoove you to cut 30 seconds from the video to increase engagement. At 6 minutes, the research shows a leveling off at 50% engagement and there is little decrease all the way to 12 minutes. So you should still produce longer content if it is warranted, but know the drop-off is large from 2 to 6 minutes.

If you are going to produce video, remember the 2-minute rule. So what’s the best TV commercial length? According to the Wistia research, it would be up to 2 minutes. So buy the entire 2-minute commercial break.