Trainers and HR professionals often ask us: What length do you recommend for an instructional video? Today, we are answering this question here on our blog!
Instructional Videos Under 3 Minutes in Length
The clear recommendation of the blink.it learning experts: Keep your video as short as possible – ideally under 3 minutes! Experience shows that the ideal length is actually between 1 and 2 minutes.
Perhaps you find it difficult to keep it so short when you create a video yourself. In that case, I have a simple tip for you: Imagine you enter an elevator. Next to you is a person to whom you want to explain your learning content. So while you both ride up in the elevator, you have very little time to convince the person of your message. This method is known as an Elevator Pitch and is mostly used in sales pitches.
By the way, funny irony: If you search on Google for "Elevator Pitch" or "Elevator Statement", you will hardly find any videos under three minutes.
“Are You Still There?” Attention Span Is Limited!
So why should you use such short instructional videos? There are two main reasons for this:
Focus: Every content piece has a core message that needs to be conveyed.
Attention: The human attention span is very short.
More and more companies are also recognizing this fact: Studies show that videos in a corporate context are becoming increasingly shorter. In 2017, an average video was still 6:07 minutes long; by 2018, it was down to 4:07 minutes (Source) – that is a whole two minutes shorter!
Especially in times of digitalization, where we are bombarded with media and videos from all sides, our attention span is shrinking. Therefore, in e-learning and online courses, not only should an instructional video be kept short, but in general every learning content piece should be doable in a maximum of 5 minutes. This was also the result of our own study to define the perfect length of an online course.
And what if a video is longer and you would still like to use it for your online course? Our answer: Try to split the video into logical sections or edit it so that only the most important core message remains. This is, of course, not always easy, but it is worth it for the learning effect. Your message should be clear and immediately understandable – usually, it is not the participant's task to perform content analysis!
Therefore: Shorten videos for online courses so that the core message is conveyed understandably – and complement the learning unit with a precise call to action: What should your participant do now with this statement?
Conclusion
In instructional videos, what counts is not having as much content as possible, but a clearly understandable core message in the shortest possible time.
Rule of thumb for the perfect length of instructional videos: Keep it under three minutes!
Of course, the topic of instructional videos is not fully covered just by the ideal length: What equipment do I need to shoot an instructional video? What else do I need to look out for besides length? – You can find answers to these and other questions in our video guide, which we offer for you to download for free. Have fun with your instructional videos!
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
How long should an instructional video be?
As a rule of thumb, blink.it recommends a length of under three minutes. Experience shows that instructional videos of about one to two minutes are particularly well-suited to convey a single core message compactly.
Why should instructional videos be as short as possible?
Short instructional videos help to keep the focus on the essential message and avoid unnecessarily taxing the participants' limited attention span.
What can I do if an instructional video is too long?
A longer video can be split into several logical sections or shortened to the most important parts. This creates multiple focused learning units instead of one long video with many different statements.
How much content should an instructional video convey?
An instructional video should ideally focus on one central core message. Additional content can be distributed across separate instructional videos or learning units.
