Optimal Episode Length

[Drakhen99]

I have been thinking about the length and hope to divide the videos into 8-minute segments for several reasons. First is the points @TallADVer makes above. Many very successful channels keep things shorter. But more importantly, I think it will be more sustainable. I plan on one video a week to start. I've been getting down my editing technique, but it will still take about 1-hour segment. Each segment is about 2 minutes or so on average. Doing a video with eight segments will take about ten hours of editing. I don't think I can devote ten hours a week to this. Cutting things in half will mean only five or so hours of editing time per week/episode. That is much more sustainable. I've been heads down on this in my free time, and I can't keep that up. Other hobbies need some attention. For this three-day trip, I will get five or six segments. That seems good. My Upcoming trip to Spain and France is 45 days, based on my current plans, that will yield about 75 7-9 minute episodes. That's a year of content (and 500+ hours of editing time, Yikes!).

I also plan on making a 20-30 second short-form video from each segment to post to TickTock, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube shorts, as a way to generate interest and drive more folks to the full video. I haven't done one yet, but I should be able to whip one up in 10 minutes by just resuing my work for the full episode.

You've got a great plan, and to realize that it's unsustainable this early on is a good harbinger of things to come. I easily spend 5-10 hours per week just editing, sometimes closer to 20, when I'm in a big creative push / head space. I got 5 or 6 videos editing this week, and instead of editing last night, I created the 4 thumbnails I needed to finish up those videos [2 I'd already done and published]. And I did that while watching other YT videos.

I have around 1,600 hours of editing over the last 2.5 years of doing this, to create about 440 videos... with 10 or so more to do before I run out of pre-recorded footage. Then, add in all the time spent doing thumbnails, descriptions, chapters, etc., and we're pushing closer to 2,000 hours. That's just to give you a frame of reference from my perspective. AND, I haven't even been on big trips... just stuff around my area.

I will say that since you're using Davinci Resolve, look for any shortcuts you can. You've watched my DR tutorials, but the big ones are to use Adjustment Clips and Power Bins to speed up your editing process. And Power Grades, if you're doing color grading. Setting that stuff up takes a little bit of time, but if you realize you're gonna use the same effect on multiple videos, throw it in the Power Bins so it's a drag & drop affair. That'll get you MUCH faster editing results.

FWIW, I used to spend 5-7 hours per video [and they averaged 7-11 minutes long], but these days, even a complicated video takes less than 6, even if they're 20 minutes long. It's muscle memory and practice, my friend.

Some of that is probably a repeat from previous posts of mine... but I'm too lazy to edit it

-John

 

[PhilTonic]

It's funny reading different opinions on the matter. When I released my Euro Tour videos from 2015, that's when my audience grew loads. I started off with videos between 7 and 20 minutes. But people complained the videos were too short. I released some videos closer to the 30 minutes mark and over and they gained more traction.

A more recent playlist is my 2019 Dolomites trip. Videos are 32, 56, 43, 8, 37 and 43 minutes long. Guess what's watched the least? The 8 minutes one (8K clicks). The others are all between 16K and 28K clicks.

Hence why I asked what the target audience is.

 

[Southpaw78]

This is a great discussion. I am fairly new to vlogging and my videos of my rides are averaging just over 20 mins. I have started making some shorts/reels to get some shorter content out and attract to my channel.

 

[Drakhen99]

This is a great discussion. I am fairly new to vlogging and my videos of my rides are averaging just over 20 mins. I have started making some shorts/reels to get some shorter content out and attract to my channel.

Just be careful with shorts - they tend to not funnel viewers as much as you'd think. The most recent vids I've watched on it said that shorts viewers watch shorts, and long-form viewers watch long-form, and it's not common for them to mix.

-John

 

[Hippo-Drones]

Just be careful with shorts - they tend to not funnel viewers as much as you'd think. The most recent vids I've watched on it said that shorts viewers watch shorts, and long-form viewers watch long-form, and it's not common for them to mix.

-John

Also, I may watch short form videos, but I have never subbed to one, or commented/liked a short form video from a channel I didn't already subscribe to... I hate the format, but do watch Instagram Reels on the odd lazy morning lay in... still won't sub to a short form video channel even on Instagram.

 

[Moto Mengy]

Just be careful with shorts - they tend to not funnel viewers as much as you'd think. The most recent vids I've watched on it said that shorts viewers watch shorts, and long-form viewers watch long-form, and it's not common for them to mix.

It honestly seems to me, particularly for motovlogging, that shorts actually hurt viewership of the main videos and even drive subscribers away.

YT shorts might work for some niches on YT, but I don't get the impression that motorcycle riders care much for shorts.

 

[Drakhen99]

It honestly seems to me, particularly for motovlogging, that shorts actually hurt viewership of the main videos and even drive subscribers away.

YT shorts might work for some niches on YT, but I don't get the impression that motorcycle riders care much for shorts.

True story! I had one short that got like 4,200 views... and 6 subs. A few days later, I was down 3 - so at least 3 of them disappeared when they realized I didn't put out 1,000 shorts a day for their dopamine hits.

-John

 

[lonerockz]

It's funny reading different opinions on the matter. When I released my Euro Tour videos from 2015, that's when my audience grew loads. I started off with videos between 7 and 20 minutes. But people complained the videos were too short. I released some videos closer to the 30 minutes mark and over and they gained more traction.

A more recent playlist is my 2019 Dolomites trip. Videos are 32, 56, 43, 8, 37 and 43 minutes long. Guess what's watched the least? The 8 minutes one (8K clicks). The others are all between 16K and 28K clicks.

Hence why I asked what the target audience is.

I've been trying to do some research on how Youtube counts "views" and I have a hypothesis on why your longer videos have more views. My guess is that people are not finishing them in one sitting. From what I read (and I could have this totally wrong, let me know if I do!) a single viewer can be counted as watching a video multiple times. If there a short time between views then Youtube will count it as another watch. People don't have to finish a video for it to get a view.

If this is true the optimal length is long enough for someone to not watch it in one sitting. Of course your content has to be good enough to get them to come back and finish it.

Perhaps someone with more experience can enlighten us on how these metrics work.

When I look for content I look at run time and try to avoid long things. Especially if I'm looking at tutorials. Oftentimes long tutorials have the same content as shorter ones, so I start with short ones and if I understand it then I move on, no need to watch the longer one and waste my time. When I'm watching entertainment and looking at a new channel I won't watch a longer video (15+ minutes). I will watch longer stuff once I have some experience with the channel, but not for new things. This is one more reason I'm going to target 8-10 minutes in general.