What's the average length of a video ad? Complete guide

Expanding your digital marketing strategy? Wondering what's the average length of a video ad? Get the answers here.

In our digital age, video content is king. With the rise of social media and online platforms, the advertising industry has drastically evolved, placing video ads at the forefront of many a marketing strategy. With their engaging visuals and storytelling capabilities, they have become instrumental in capturing viewers’ attention, increasing brand awareness, and driving conversions.

Here’s everything you need to know about video ads and voiceovers.

Where to use video ads

Video advertising has evolved into a multifaceted strategy that isn't confined to a single platform. Instead, it's omnipresent across an array of social media platforms, each with its unique capabilities and opportunities for marketers.

The universality of YouTube, with its diverse demographic reach, provides an effective platform for sharing longer videos, tutorials, and explainer videos. Facebook video feeds, embedded smoothly within the user's browsing experience, allow marketers to deliver engaging content without being intrusive. Twitter, known for its brevity, offers opportunities for short, punchy video tweets that cater to the platform's fast-paced nature. Instagram broadens the spectrum further with its versatile video offerings: feed videos for detailed content, Instagram Stories for time-limited engagement, and IGTV for long-form content that can delve deeper into subjects. LinkedIn, the professional's hub, is fertile ground for B2B video marketing, while Snapchat and TikTok, favored by younger demographics, thrive on creativity, brevity, and trend-driven short video content.

Beyond social media platforms, video ads also prove effective on landing pages, where they can provide a visually engaging overview of a product or service, encouraging further exploration. They're equally useful within email marketing, breaking the monotony of text-heavy content and offering a dynamic, interactive experience to the recipient.

Thus, video advertising presents marketers with a plethora of avenues to engage their target audience, delivering rich, engaging content across multiple touchpoints.

How to create a video ad

Creating a video ad requires careful consideration of your marketing strategy and content marketing goals. The best video content is relevant, engaging, and appropriately tailored to the platform on which it is posted. A tutorial or explainer video might be ideal for YouTube or webinars, where longer videos are generally accepted and can boost SEO. Meanwhile, shorter videos might fit better on mobile-centric platforms like Instagram stories and TikTok, where brevity is key to holding the viewer's attention.

Each social media video needs a clear call to action (CTA) and a captivating thumbnail to attract initial interest. Types of videos may range from product testimonials, case studies, to promotional clips, each tailored for different social media platforms.

Voiceovers for video ads

Voiceovers in video ads serve as a valuable tool to provide clarity, add personality, and enhance emotional engagement. They are particularly useful when the visual content alone is not self-explanatory, or when additional context or narrative is required. Voiceovers can be used to tell a story, explain the benefits of a product or service, or guide viewers through a tutorial or demo. They also help in setting the mood of the ad, whether it's to evoke joy, excitement, intrigue, or empathy. An engaging voiceover can make the difference between a viewer watching your ad to the end and gaining a positive impression of your brand, or moving on without understanding your message. In other words, voiceovers in video ads can be a crucial element in capturing and maintaining viewer attention, ultimately driving higher conversions.

Traditional vs. AI voiceovers for videos

Traditional voiceovers have been the go-to choice for years, using human voices to inject emotion, nuance, and personality into video content. Human voice actors have an innate ability to convey complex emotions, adapt to different narrative styles, and deliver a voiceover that is perfectly aligned with the visual elements. The use of well-known or recognizable voices can also add an element of celebrity endorsement to a video. However, traditional voiceovers can be time-consuming and costly, particularly for businesses that frequently update their video content or require voiceovers in multiple languages.

On the other hand, AI voiceovers are transforming the video advertising landscape with their speed, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. Advanced AI voice technologies can now generate speech that sounds increasingly human-like, complete with emotional inflections. This means a brand can produce a voiceover within minutes, without the logistical complexities and costs associated with hiring human talent. AI voiceovers also have a distinct advantage when it comes to scalability and linguistic versatility, as they can produce voiceovers in a wide range of languages and accents.

Ultimately, the choice between traditional and AI voiceovers depends on factors such as budget, time constraints, and the specific needs of the video content.

Average length of video ads by platform

So, what's the ideal length for your video ads? The answer depends on the platform and your objectives.

Facebook video length for ads often falls between 15-60 seconds, just enough to communicate a message without overtaxing the attention spans of scrolling users. Twitter video ads are usually shorter, given the fast-paced nature of the platform. Instagram video length for feed videos is also similar to Facebook, while Instagram stories and IGTV can afford a slightly longer duration, up to a maximum length of 120 seconds and 60 minutes, respectively.

For YouTube video ads, the length can vary. Pre-roll ads that play before another video have a sweet spot of 15-20 seconds. However, longer-form video ads that can be skipped after a few seconds (TrueView ads) have no specified optimal length.

On LinkedIn, the average length of video ads is often around 30 seconds, while Snapchat favors short video content, with ads ideally around 5-6 seconds.

Despite these platform-specific guidelines, the attention span of viewers, particularly on mobile devices, is short and continues to shrink. It's important to remember that longer videos must work harder to maintain engagement. Shorter videos often outperform their lengthier counterparts in view-through rates, making them an excellent tool for brand awareness.

However, the average length of a video ad isn't the only factor affecting engagement and conversions. Your video's quality, relevance to the audience, and its ability to tell a compelling story within the given time frame are equally crucial.

Remember, metrics like views, engagement, and conversion rates should guide your video marketing decisions, not the algorithm's preference. Experiment with different video lengths to find the sweet spot for your specific audience and goals.

In conclusion, video ads, whether short or long, play a pivotal role in enhancing brand visibility and driving engagement. Ensuring they are appropriately designed, optimized, and placed can significantly boost your marketing campaign's success. From SEO to viewer engagement, the benefits of investing time and resources into your video advertising strategy are well worth it.

Speechify AI Video

If you want to take your video ads to the next level without having to expand your budget, consider Speechify AI Video. This platform features amazing AI-powered video editing tools to help you create both short video ads and long-form video content. Streamline video editing workflows by choose from many different video templates, add special effects, include voiceovers and subtitles, and more all within minutes. It features a user-friendly interface that helps content creators of all skill levels create professional-quality videos faster than ever before.

Create your next video ad and video content with Speechify AI Video.