Rising Creators Forum

I've been making 8-10 minute videos but i'm wondering if that's too long or too short for the algorithm. i've seen advice saying to make 15+ minute videos for ad revenue but also advice saying shorter videos perform better

What length do your videos usually run and have you noticed a difference in performance based on video length?

i'm in the tutorial/educational niche if that matters

Gonna disagree here - i've had way more success with shorter videos around 5-7 minutes

people's attention spans are shot. even if your content is good, most people aren't watching 15 minute tutorials. they want quick solutions

My 6 minute videos have 58% average retention. My 12 minute videos have 38% retention. The shorter videos perform better overall even though total watch time is less

youtube might prefer longer watch time in theory but in practice they promote videos with high retention percentages. a 6 minute video with 60% retention beats a 15 minute video with 35% retention

make your videos as long as they need to be to deliver value, then cut everything else. Don't artificially extend videos just to hit a certain length. quality over quantity

For tutorials i'd say 7-10 minutes is perfect. any longer and you're probably adding fluff

longer videos generally perform better IF you can keep people engaged. youtube cares about total watch time not just percentage watched

My videos are usually 12-18 minutes and they perform way better than when I was making 6-8 minute videos. more watch time = more ads = more revenue for youtube, so they push longer content

but the key is you can't just make long videos with filler content. every minute needs to provide value or people will click away and your retention will tank

for tutorials specifically i'd say 10-15 minutes is the sweet spot. long enough to cover the topic thoroughly but not so long that people get bored. if you can naturally fit mid-roll ads (8+ minutes) that's a bonus

also longer videos keep people on youtube longer which is what the algorithm wants. so as long as your retention stays above 40-50%, make them as long as they need to be