01
Is there a number that works?
Not a universal one, but there is a useful rule: end at the moment the point lands, not at the moment the speaker stops talking. Those are rarely the same instant, and the gap between them is where most clips lose their audience. Clips running past ninety seconds double what that video costs here, which is a deliberate push toward the shorter end.
02
Cutting a clip down without losing the point
Start by removing everything before the first sentence that matters. Introductions, pleasantries and restatements of the question rarely belong in a short. Then look for repetition: speakers often make a point twice in slightly different words, and the second version can usually go.
Watch the trimmed clip once more. If the point still lands clearly, the cuts worked. If it now feels abrupt, restore the single sentence that gives it context.
03
When a longer clip is justified
Some moments need time: a story with a setup and a twist, a demonstration with visible steps, a debate that builds. Cutting these too short removes what makes them work. If every second of a longer clip is carrying weight, the length is earned.
A useful test is to ask what a viewer loses if a section is removed. If the answer is nothing, remove it.
04
Matching length to the platform
Each platform has its own limits for short clips, and audiences on each have slightly different expectations. Check current limits before planning longer clips, since exceeding them may move a clip out of the short-video feed.
Keep a record of your clips' lengths and how each performed. After a few months, a pattern usually emerges for your content and audience.
05
Planning length from the start
When recording content you plan to clip, encourage speakers to make points in complete, compact answers. A thirty-second answer that stands alone is easier to clip than a five-minute ramble with a good line in the middle.
Hosts can help by summarising a guest's point in a single sentence, which often becomes a strong clip opening.
06
Reading length in your analytics
Compare the average share of each clip that viewers watched against the clip's length. If your forty-second clips are regularly watched to about half, while your twenty-second clips are watched nearly to the end, the shorter ones are holding attention better, even if the longer ones collect more total watch time.
Look for the point where the retention line drops sharply in longer clips. That moment often marks where the clip should have ended. Trimming future clips to stop just before a similar point keeps the viewers who were enjoying it and removes the part that sent them away.
07
Shorter than you think, usually
- Find where the point lands. That is the end of the clip, whatever the speaker does afterwards.
- Cut the wind-down. The sentence after the payoff almost never earns its seconds.
- Watch the cost signal. Anything over ninety seconds costs double, which is worth treating as advice rather than just pricing.
Cut one video and compare the short pieces against the long ones.
Questions people ask
- Why do longer clips cost double here?
- Length is the one thing that genuinely scales the work, so the price follows it rather than hiding it.
- Are very short clips better?
- Not automatically. A clip too short to make sense is worse than one slightly too long.
- Does the platform matter?
- Less than people think. A clip that holds attention holds it everywhere.
- Can I set the exact length?
- On paid plans you supply your own timestamps and decide precisely.
- What band counts as long?
- Past ninety seconds is where the doubling starts.