There’s no standard length or minimum or maximum length of a video. What’s the best length always depends on the subject and on the attention span of your audience.
However, given some particular information that a video is to convey, the shorter the video the better. Users watch instructional videos for getting their jobs done—not for having a good time. A shorter video saves users time. Other than with printed information, skipping irrelevant content is very difficult in a video.
So get to the point quickly. Leave out all things that are irrelevant in the context of the video.
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Compared to longer videos, short videos:
▪are more likely to be watched to the end
▪are less costly to produce
▪are less costly to translate
▪are less likely to need an update in case the product changes
▪are more likely to be able to be reusable in various places
With complex subjects, divide a video into several individual videos. So users can view individual content in a more targeted manner. Users typically have a very specific question and aren’t willing to watch a long video that spans multiple topics.
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Given some particular information, the shorter a video the better. A short video is always preferable, as long as the presentation quality doesn't suffer and the video doesn't run too fast (see also In your videos, take your time).
As to the question of whether it’s better to have multiple short videos rather than one long video, a downside of having short videos is that those (few) users who are willing to invest more time into learning, need to find and start multiple videos. Also, you need to handle a larger number of video files.
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In general, users prefer videos of approximately the following maximum lengths:
▪up to 3 minutes for promotional videos
▪up to 5 minutes for informational videos (depending on the content also up to 15 minutes)
▪up to 15 minutes for tutorials (provided that the tutorial gives its users an obvious benefit)
However, when embedded into technical documentation, videos should be much shorter. The shorter you can make it, the better.
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