Trust us when we say this: brevity is your friend. Short-form video content is a highly contested space today. With TikToks, reels and stories taking up most of our screen time, the average human attention span has also decreased. You have less than 5 seconds to grab your viewers’ attention. If you don’t have a hook in that timeframe, you’ve already lost your audience.
This is very likely the first sentence you’ll read after the title (the hook)
Brands need to know their audience and build content around their behaviour and interests. If most of the target audience can be reached online, it’s a given that their attention span is short. They’re going to lay eyes on the shiniest object in the room and read the boldest text on the blog. It’s a familiar pattern nowadays among Internet residents, so it’s almost necessary that brands cater to that.
It takes less than 10 seconds for a viewer to decide whether they want to watch or skip a video. And that’s on YouTube. It’s much lower on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
This is a world that can get distracted in a snap. If your video isn’t pulling the user in, that catchy Swiggy notification will. Whether it’s a product video or a mental health tip, you’ve got limited time to advertise yourself and introduce your brand. Not to undermine anyone but…we’re pitching to goldfish here!
Every second counts, but the first few count more
Your product or service may be offering a lot. Too much to filter down to a fifteen-second video with Doja Cat playing in the background. It may not seem like enough time to brag about everything you have to offer. Unfortunately, you may have the best product there is in the field but if it isn’t marketed well in the stipulated time, the world isn’t going to invest. The bounce rate is going to be high. Brands should be able to dumb it down and show off their USP within that time. So the question isn’t if 15 seconds is enough. The question is, how do you market yourself best in a matter of 15 seconds.
