Is there a ‘magic number’ for effective video content? The answer is YES.

Us humans love a story. We love hearing stories and sharing stories. As human beings we were built to share our stories with others in order to connect with each other and when vehicles like social media platforms came along, well, that just gave people new ways in which to make that a little easier to do so (on whatever scale we chose/still choose to share)

It’s only natural then, that just as the way in which we share our stories has changed, so too has the way we consume them also. As recently as a year ago, the 30 second content piece was the hero of all and in the last year, that has shifted dramatically. The rules have changed. I recently listened to a great interview by Julie Masters featuring Ben Jones who is the Creative Director of Google and Head of Unskippable Labs – a guy who spends his days researching, testing and watching the ways we use and view the 5 BILLION pieces of video content uploaded to Youtube EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. In the interview, he spoke about his findings that we – consumers - only need a short 6 second burst of content to confirm if we like a piece of video or not and if we do, we want 2-3 minutes more of it. Hence why the skip button appears at the 5 second mark on Youtube….that’s not an accidental number.

He also says “No one is proving that they are more interested in the story you have to tell them than when they are CHOOSING to continue to watch it when they could in fact SKIP at any time.” It’s true right, it’s only when you are so absorbed in the content that you forget the skip button is even there as an option…

The key to great content is to not only make that first 6 seconds super compelling, but to deliver it in a unique way, that, as Ben Jones says, “invites the audience in, it doesn’t just interrupt and break into their world.”

I love that idea – to create content the invites, rather than interrupts. A helpful insight to put into play when next bringing your creative to life.

(If you’d like to listen to the Inside Influence podcast here, hosted by Julie Masters, head here)