FAQ: How Long Should a Video Be (Platform, Objective, Viewer, and the 5% Rule) and How Much Does Quality Matter (the Message-Audio-Image Triangle)

'The three key factors which we consider before selecting the ideal length': the platform ('where are you going to distribute it?'), the objective ('how do you know when your video is successful?'), and the viewer ('who is the ideal video viewer that you are communicating to'). 'Value video' covers 'a commercial, a edutainment video, a video sales letter, a promo video, a corporate video, a video advertisement, a webinar', and a campaign 'can consist of an infinite number of value videos.' Platform numbers as of recording: 'a Facebook video ad placed in the newsfeed can be up to 240 minutes long maximum, while a Facebook story ad can only be 120 seconds'; YouTube in-stream skippable ads 'have to be a minimum of 12 seconds' and are skippable 'after about five seconds'; on your own site with driven traffic 'there are no restrictions.' A kept-up-to-date requirements list sits below the module.

'Different objectives require different levels of commitment from your viewer.' Low: click a link, read a free article, opt in for an ebook or case study; high: call the company, book an appointment, fill a survey, 'buy now' with a card, mail a cheque. 'The lower the objective and level of certainty, the weaker your messaging and content can be while still achieving results. Then the higher the objective and level of certainty, the more irresistible your messaging and content will need to be.' Lower asks convert a larger share; length is one of the levers for making a message more irresistible.

'I don't have definitive proof to substantiate that longer videos are the ones that sell more. I'm merely sharing what I've observed from producing dozens of value videos in different markets and generating a couple million dollars in sales.' The analogy: 'I didn't ask my wife to marry me the first time I saw her... We built a relationship and trust over a long period of time.' So 'the longer your value videos are, the stronger the relationship and trust with your company and offer can become' - room for demonstrations, case histories, myth-busting, testimonials - with the caveat that 'if your messaging content is perceived as negative by the viewer, the more time they spend watching... the more they will dislike your company.' Contrary to 'pretty much every other marketer' preaching 60 seconds or less.

Live in the ad account: 'we spent $77,928.46 to generate 230,964 people who viewed our advertisements... 1.4 million video plays... average video watch time only 7 seconds' on ads 'up to 20 minutes long.' Drop-off: 103,000 watched 25%, 59,000 half, 'at 100%, we're at just 31,000' (31,598). Willing to pay 'up to $200 to get one phone call'; actual 'qualified sales meetings for just $59.81.' Generalised: 'A general rule of thumb when advertising to complete strangers is less than 5% of viewers will watch your video ad from start to finish' - most give 'a fleeting glance' or 'two to five seconds.' Therefore 'shortening your video ad to a length where everyone will watch it is actually counterproductive and a foolish practice' - it forces generic messaging and 'being funny instead of direct and irresistible.' The door-to-door analogy: you would not cap your words with a serious in-person prospect. Pro tip: long ads are re-cut into several short ads with different hooks.

'There's an ongoing argument... video ads should be 30 seconds, minutes, hours' - the only universal answer is 'The ideal length of your video ad is the length that generates the best results.' Three steps: (1) rate the ideal client's certainty/commitment toward the offer on a 0-10 scale before watching; (2) map the messaging needed to move them - educate, build trust, establish credibility, dispel competitor myths; (3) produce 'at whatever length required' to close the certainty gap and trigger action. If a platform caps length, 'your video needs to become more potent' - credibility and social proof fast - or use several sequential value videos (see the Distribution training).

'Those three components that make up the video quality triangle are message, audio and image', combined into either 'a positive spiral' or 'a downward spiral.' Weighting by Pareto - 'roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes' - with Paul's garden, wealth, roads and violence anecdotes. Image is secondary: 'The first one I ever produced in this market was shot with a iPhone and... screen recording PowerPoint slides. It generated over $2 million in sales'; a Canon 70D video on his wife's massage site has run 'two and a half, three years' producing '$300' clients for '$30' - 'a 10x ROI.' Chris Gardner (The Pursuit of Happyness) lands the internship in paint-stained clothes on message alone; The Blair Witch Project's shaky footage was a hit; formats carry emotion by design (iPhone-to-camera = authenticity, POV mountain-biking = adrenaline even muted). Audio outranks image: 'I would actually put more money into a better microphone than the camera' - Mehrabian's 7-38-55 (words, tonality, body language) - demonstrated with 'a Rode NT one... through the toft audio design soundboard, which is about $4,000' on iPhone video versus 'a Canon C100, which is a $5,000 body... L Glass 1.2 f stop Canon 50 mil... a $6,500 camera setup' recording audio through the iPhone; bad audio makes 'even five minutes... painful... unwatchable.'

'Prioritize putting your time and money into the message first, foremost, and spend 80% of your time there.' Thought experiment: '$100,000 in camera equipment, massive crew, and a amazing sound team' shooting a radiator with no message - 'no one's going to buy the thing.' Rate message, audio and image each on an attract-vs-repulse believability scale (0-10); you do not need tens - 'it could be a 5, it could be a 6, a 7, an 8.' Dentist example: 'the only one offering dental implants in a 300 mile radius' - closest, affordable, 'see you tomorrow' - scores message 10/10, so audio and image can both be an iPhone and the ad still works with distribution. The scales were invented by Paul and Anthony 'grading them for our clients' - 'it didn't exist... we had to do it for ourselves first.' A silent product demo can still attract if the visuals alone transfer certainty. No skills lab in this module; questions go to the community.