How Long Is Your Online Video?

The latest comScore report on online video offered up some fascinating facts about people in the US and what they are watching.

In April 2009, 78.6 per cent of internet users in the US watched some kind of online video. That number blows me away. It highlights the familiarity and comfort that the vast majority of internet users have with online video.

In the same month visitors to YouTube watched over 6.8 billion videos at an average of 63.5 videos per person. That means every visitor to YouTube watched over two videos a day every single day of the month. Online video is not a secret. Everyone’s watching.

People understand video. They like watching video. They expect to spend some of their time online watching video. If you have something you want to say. Say it through video.

Another key indicator for me is the average length of and online video. According to comScore, “the duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes”. That’s much longer than I would have guessed. The rise of Hulu has definitely had an impact on these figures since they demonstrated the public’s appetite for streaming full length TV episodes. In April 2009, Hulu showed 2.4 per cent of all videos in the US but that translated to 4.2 per cent of all minutes spent watching video online.

After many years working in online video, these numbers are starting to challenge the one fundamental tenet I thought existed – less is more. It seems people are willing to watch videos that last way longer than 30 seconds. They may even be willing to watch long enough to hear your message through to the end and for you to deliver a compelling call to action.

What are you going to do about that?