Marketing video length depends entirely on where it lives and what job it's doing. A Facebook ad fighting for attention in-feed should be 15–30 seconds maximum. A YouTube pre-roll you can skip after five seconds needs to hook in three. An explainer video on your product page can run 90 seconds to two minutes because the viewer came looking for information. Educational content on YouTube or LinkedIn can stretch to 8–12 minutes if you're delivering real value, not filler. Social platforms reward different lengths. Instagram Reels and TikTok perform best under 60 seconds, often peaking at 20–40 seconds. LinkedIn tolerates longer form—two to three minutes works when you're addressing a business problem. YouTube's algorithm favors watch time, so a ten-minute video that keeps 60% of viewers beats a two-minute video that loses half the audience in 30 seconds. Intent matters more than duration. If someone clicked your PPC ad, they'll watch 90 seconds of product demo. If they're scrolling during lunch, you have seven seconds to stop the thumb. We see this constantly in campaign data—our short-form social ads (under 20 seconds) get 3–5x more completions than 60-second versions of the same concept, but the longer cut converts better when placed on a landing page because context has already been set. Here's how we bucket it at Ottawa SEO: - Paid social ads: 15–30 seconds - Organic social content: 30–90 seconds - Website explainers: 60–120 seconds - Tutorial or how-to: 3–8 minutes - Webinars or thought leadership: 15–45 minutes The real test is retention rate. If 70% of viewers watch your three-minute video to the end, it's not too long. If 80% bail at the 20-second mark of your one-minute video, it's bloated. YouTube Analytics and Facebook Insights show you exact drop-off points. Cut there, or make that moment more compelling. Length is a trailing indicator—hook strength and pacing determine whether anyone stays.