Instagram Influencer Marketing

How Long Should TikToks & Reels Be? (Analyzing 2,000 Creator Videos)

What's the best length for TikTok videos and Instagram Reels? Here's our report analyzing 2,000 creator videos to inform how long (or short!) your own videos should be.

tiktok and reels audio cover photo

"How long should our TikTok videos be? What about Reels?" 🤔

We always hear these questions from brands eager to boost their social video performance.

To give a definitive answer about the best video lengths on TikTok and Reels, we analyzed 2,000 creator videos from Statusphere's micro-influencer marketing platform. 

So, is there actually a connection between social video length and view count?

Below is a snapshot of our findings and our full TikTok vs. Reels video report! 👇

How Long Should a TikTok Video Be? 

TikTok videos under 60 seconds long got the most views. These videos earned anywhere between 2% and 15% more engagement than videos between 60 and 99 seconds long.

When in doubt, "shorter is better" holds true based on the 2,000 videos we analyzed.

However, there's no denying the new features and the fact that TikTok has been pushing longer videos. Our data also noted that videos saw a lift in views when they hit 100+ seconds long.

The takeaway? View counts get more inconsistent once your TikToks go beyond a minute.

How Long Should Instagram Reels Be? 

Instagram Reels between 60 and 80 seconds long earned the most views. These videos earned 71% more views on average than Reels under a minute long.

This signals that Instagram may actually be favoring longer videos (as some have speculated).

That said, Reels that were 20 seconds or less earned the second-highest amount of views.

The takeaway? Instagram seems to give less reach to "middle-of-the-road" videos.

Want to dig more into the data? Check out our full short-form video trends report below. 👇

TikTok Reels Length Report September 2024

About the Data: This data was collected by analyzing creator posts sourced through Statusphere creator collaborations from May to July 2024. The creators included in the data were all vetted for engagement and brand fit prior to receiving approval to collaborate with the brands using Statusphere’s platform. Working with creators from other platforms or networks may produce different results.

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