I get asked this a lot, and the answer is that it depends on a variety of factors such as platform, product, client, organic vs paid, video style, and more.
My general recommendation is to create videos for each of the following lengths: 10 secs, 20 secs, 30 secs, and 60 secs. This gives you a solid amount of creative to test and allows you to cover most of the placements that are more sensitive to lengths.
The current research out there gives some ideas on the allowed ranges but it's not really that helpful.
YouTube bumpers are 6 seconds. Non skippable in stream is 15 to 60. Skippable has no max but they recommend under 3 minutes. So not really a performance recommendation as much as recommended ranges. It matters more on YouTube that the first 6 seconds are engaging than the length.
TikTok is the only one that publishes a performance range: 21 to 34 seconds. TikTok wants your hook inside 6 seconds and your proposition inside 3.
LinkedIn publishes 3 seconds to 30 minutes, depending on your objective. Read: just figure it out yourself.
Meta gives you maximums per placement and no recommendation at all.
So, yes it truly varies. No matter the length or the platform, the first 3 to 6 seconds are critical to capture the attention of the viewer and keep them watching.
When I see a video flop in ads, it usually is very clear cut. Videos seem to do very well or not well at all. It requires a lot of testing to figure out what the best format is for your brand and which messaging resonates well with your audience. Once you have some data back on your videos, it becomes easier to create better videos that are more likely to succeed.
We built a free tool that gives you the actual specs for whatever platform and placement you are running: Video Format Planner
If you want a video plan for your business, reach out to travis@venturecreations.com or call (616) 401-1523.