What is the ideal length of a video on a topic you enjoy?

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

What is the ideal length of a video on a topic you enjoy? So not music, or ambient stuff.

I know that there are some people who I will click on a one hour or three hour video for... but if it's just based on "interesting topic" and a peek at how long it is what do you look for?

[orionkidder@mas.to]

@futurebird When the number is above 20, I tend to keep scrolling. That said, it does depend on the topic. I'll watch an hour and a half of #SomeMoreNews.

[goaty@meow.social]

@futurebird 15 to 20 is the sweet spot for me

[goaty@meow.social]

@futurebird also I prefer longer videos to be in parts

[davep@infosec.exchange]

@futurebird It depends. Mainly 20-30 minutes, but I do love my weekly Perun defence economics PowerPoint presentations that generally last over an hour.

[jannem@fosstodon.org]

@futurebird
A half hour or so. There's a reason we typically keep lessons, presentations and so on to 30-45 minutes. Much longer without a break and you can't keep focus. And it's more difficult to sustain focus online than in person.

Also - and just my opinion - if you need more than 30 minutes to explain something, then it's probably complicated and multifaceted enough to merit splitting up into multiple separate talks.

[dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org]

@futurebird

if I just want to find out what are the commands to make something happen or similar, I want like 1-3 mins, but if its a discussion on a topic 15-30 no more... i can skim sometimes but rare for me to care enough to watch an hour or 2... it happens but mostly not

[annaymone@freeradical.zone]

@futurebird I get most excited when the video about something I'm interested in is 45 mins to an hour. Anything more than 1.5 hours makes me hesitant

[michaelgemar@mstdn.ca]

@futurebird Usually 20-30 min, but I also love a multi-hour detailed discussion of a topic in anthropology (or a Young Earth Creationism takedown) by YouTuber Erica/Gutsick Gibbon.

[revndm@queer.cool]

@futurebird I like for most things to get to the point. Historical things? Fine, take time. But telling me about some new battery powered by good vibes? I don’t need ten minutes.

[apophis@yourwalls.today]

@futurebird static web page with, where appropriate and actually informative in ways non-animated media would not be, small embedded videos of 1-15 seconds that demonstrate something relevant to the text they're embedded next to

[jpaskaruk@growers.social]

@futurebird it's honestly got more to do with whether it's made by a human who appears on camera at the start, strictly as evidence. Which I do realize, might also be slop, but it's harder to slop that, in much the same way that any 90s PC is generally just fine at recording and mixing audio, but hopeless for video.

Slop voices often start well enough, but by about five minutes in you realize that even if there's plausible rhythm and normal tonal variance, it nonetheless is featureless and void. It's weather with no climate, if you get me.

If it's a human, it just needs to remain human, and not be, you know, full of shit

[apophis@yourwalls.today]

@futurebird (or links to the video files instead of embeds, with thumbnails that make it clear what is being demonstrated in the linked video)

[roland@devdilettante.com]

@futurebird 10 minutes. you can teach anything in a 10 minute video with a text blog post to back it up. and if you can't then you can break it up into multiple 10 minute videos.

[rabidchaos@hachyderm.io]

@futurebird I think one to two hours is a good length for properly getting into the details of a subject. Three hours or more is just getting silly. (Glances at The Bread Circus) But around one hour is a good length for going into detail on a subject without needing to be super rushed, and is basically a college lecture/seminar (at least in quantity of not quality).

[thefathippy@mastodon.world]

@futurebird

I prefer <15, but tolerate <30. Very rarely longer.

[attoparsec@clacks.link]

@futurebird Everyone has a strong opinion on this, but it seems to mostly cancel out under ~1 hour. I've never seen any strong correlation between how well my videos do and their length.

[log@mastodon.sdf.org]

@futurebird In general, if it's "interesting", one would need at least 15 minutes to cover all relevant subtopics, and if it's longer than 30 minutes, it should be edited down. If more than 45 minutes is *required*--as for a more complex topic--it should be broken down into multiple blocks of 15-45 minutes each. I might binge it all at once, but I do like the option to stop and pick it back up later at a designated breakpoint.

[philsuth@fosstodon.org]

@futurebird Generally I'll skip the video entirely, and go for a book or paper or web page if the option is there. I like being able to choose how fast or slow I gather the information, and being able to skip, backtrack and review easily. Each to their own, though - so it's important to provide choices.

[mym@toot.cat]

@futurebird it doesn't matter i'm not gonna watch it