How to make the most of your six second video!

Ads on YouTube have always been a pain in the, well you know where, so rather than showing an advert that people will skip as soon as they can, why not maximise the 6 second slot?

With content being devoured in bite sized chunks, plus viewed on the move, making content easier to digest seems like a logical step. Though, dropping from a traditional 30 second advert down to 6 seconds might seem a big jump, but the results have shown that YouTube has maintained their advert revenue, viewers have a better experience, and remember the adverts too, 9 out of 10, pretty good for any form of advertising.

Successfully using this format you have to focus on one thing, with Mercedes the story is because 6 seconds is too much time,

YouTube also challenged filmmakers and creative agencies to use the ‘bumper’ or ‘pre-roll’ advert to full effect, with some memorable examples.

This film The High Diver, was created by Mother NY one of the creative agencies approached to create a 6 second film.
Maud Deitch at Mother NY said “When I was writing, it was hard to keep the narrative small enough when I was thinking in words, but once I divided the time into images, it felt like there really was enough time to say something bigger. Think of your story like a joke. Distill it down to the punchline and then figure out how to build that with whatever tools you have at your disposal.”

With no voiceover, just image and very well chosen music, the film is impactful, but thankfully not too impactful…

Another one of the films created for YouTube to showcase this format is called Modern Love, and created by Droga5. I love stories that end with ambiguity, and this captures that sense that something amazing is going to happen… but you might have to wait a moment!

This isn’t just being targeted by YouTube, Facebook has worked with the juice brand Tropicana to look at the current ideal advert length, and again, 6 seconds is the magic number.
These may be results based on adverts, but when so many platforms are becoming saturated with video content, you need to be seen, and get your message across.

Where could your ideas take you with 6 seconds?

We’ll have more posts on storytelling to come, including the use of serializing and episodic videos to enable you to tell a stronger story about your business or product.