We all know that video is the king of the content world. The hard part is knowing what will entice and resonate with viewers. Now that you can use virtually any length, it can be hard to decide what is best. Mobile is also changing the video landscape and your decision-making.

Google has done a lot of research around best practices for video production. Google’s Unskippable Labs works to test ads to find the best content connection with people. Unskippable Labs did a test with a Netflix launch of “Orange is the New Black” in Singapore. They showed viewers the “Trailer” 30-second TrueView ads (YouTube’s skippable ad format), the “Teaser” ad which was a 15-second TrueView ad, a “Bumper” ad (6-second ads that are non-skippable) and no ads at all for the control group.

All three ads provided product awareness Lift. But the Bumper ad provided the best awareness lift. The Teaser ad provided the best overall brand ad recall lift. However, the Bumper provided a 300% lift in search inquiries. So the shortest ad drove the best actions compared to the others.

Google recommends:

• Tease a brand announcement with Bumper ads
• Amplify a brand with longer-form videos and Bumper ads for incremental reach
• Echo a brand by telling a full story with longer videos and re-target with Bumper ads

The Google white paper says, “Now that audiences have access to content anytime, anywhere, prime time has become all the time. This means brands have unprecedented opportunities to connect with their audiences in more meaningful ways.” So make your digital ad in all lengths to ensure you achieve optimized viewing and results.