Combatting the 8-Second Attention Span

It should come as no surprise that the average human attention is shrinking rapidly. With any number of screens, voices, devices (and on and on and on) calling out to us, it makes sense that our attention should be divided and mercurial. In fact, according to Statistic Brain, the average attention span in 2015 was a mere 8.25 seconds. To put that in perspective, the average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds…

Luckily, we aren’t goldfish, and there are any number of ways to combat the 8-second attention in the world of online video. Here are some tips from SVG to keep people from giving your video the cold shoulder:

• Keep it on the shorter side. 1-2 minutes is the apparent sweet spot for online video content. Be economical, and cut out all the fat. Anything over 2 minutes is pushing your luck and only increases the chance that viewers will turn away before they even press play.
• You only have a few seconds to grab your viewers’ attention, so it’s crucial that you make them count. Skip the unnecessary intros. Launch with a hook, and dive right into your main point. You can break it down from there. If you don’t deliver on the goods fast, people will find another video that will.
• Before people even watch your video, they’re going to see exterior details. That’s why it’s important to have a strong title and description for your video. The idea is to engage and pique interest as much as possible before it even begins.
• Root your video in personality, humanity, and story. Give your video a face that people can identify and connect with. Know your story, and tell it.
• And somewhat obviously… get creative! Even something like a simple medical training video can be injected with life and vitality if you play around with form, content, and more.

While all of those tips will help with staving off that pesky fleeting attention span, the most important thing you can do is focus on creating compelling content that’s informative, creative, easily digestible, and created specifically with your audience in mind. Easier said than done, but there’s no better jumping off point.

Skillman Video Group LLC is a Boston video production company. Call us anytime at 1-800-784-0140.