The average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds. The average attention span of humans in 2015 was reported to be 8.25 seconds. Something does not seem right about this. As our attention span is dwindling, what does this mean for YouTube or other video creators? Now more than ever, content must be engaging and have the ability to captivate viewers in the first 10 seconds. Many times we strive to get the video seen, as much as we like to see the number of views increase, as it leads to social proof, we need to be concerned with keeping the eyeballs on the video and the viewers engaged.
Tips to a strong video intro:
- Engaging opening
- Not too long of a graphic
- Identify what the video will be about
- Make it interesting
So, if you get viewers past the intro, how do you keep them watching?
The average time viewed on a single video is 2.7 minutes. Now, most YouTube videos are going to be longer than that in order to get your message across. This is fine as long as you are keeping in mind the longer the video, the higher drop-off rate during the video playback.
According to the
Kissmetrics report, the length of your videos will dictate an average retention and watch time:
- 80% Retention – video length under 1 minute
- 60% Retention – 2-3 min video length
- 50% Retention – over 5 min
Average YouTube watch time per day is 39 min, and the amount of YouTube sessions has increased. The good news is we have viewers, and as long as we can create engaging videos, there is still a significant opportunity available.
Content is being consumed by a large amount on Smartphones, followed by televisions, via video streaming devices. Desktop computers and tablets are the least utilized for viewers of the millennial age.
Fun Fact: Horizontal video ads are not played as much as vertical video ads, in fact, the vertical video ads are played 9x more!
From this data, we can gather the importance of keeping your content optimized for mobile consumption.
So why are people watching more YouTube videos, what are they looking for?
53% are watching for inspiration or entertainment, 70% learning, 70% knowing instructions, 67% deciding what to buy. This is powerful information when creating your videos, choosing topics or delivery methods. Creating content that viewers already want just makes sense for growth and traction of a YouTube channel.
To summarize, take a look at the
infographic created by Kissmetrics and Vidooly it is full of valuable information. The five ways to increase engagement they mention are:
1. Focus your promotion on mobile viewers
2. Post and share your videos at the appropriate time
3. Create videos on the confluence of audiences passions & interests and your channel’s identity
4. To increase the shelf life of your videos and shares, embed it in emails or include as a link in signature
5. Collaborate with your viewers to engage them more & build a community for your channel
We hope you found this information as robust as we did and put it to use in your YouTube and content creation ventures. Please don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with all things Dotto Tech.
Until next time … have fun stormin’ the castle!
