How Long Should a Commercial Video Be? A Length-by-Placement Guide

The right length for a commercial video is whatever its placement will hold, which for most South Florida businesses means a range from a 6-second cut to a 3-minute film, not a single number. We are Mile 1 Media, a video production studio in Palm Beach Gardens that builds monthly video systems and one-off shoots for service businesses across South Florida, and length is the question we field most often on a first call.

The pattern we see across builds is that clients ask "how long should our video be" as if there is one correct answer, when it depends on where a viewer meets the video and how warm they are. This guide walks the lengths in the order a viewer encounters them, gives you a checklist to set your own, and names the point where a longer video stops helping.

The short answer on commercial video length

Most commercial video works in one of four lengths: 6 to 15 seconds for a cold feed or pre-roll, 30 seconds for a broadcast or paid spot, 60 to 90 seconds for a website or landing page, and 2 to 3 minutes for a brand film a warm buyer chooses to watch. Pick the length by the placement, then cut the same footage down for the earlier stages.

That last part matters more than the numbers. A single shoot day should produce the long version and every shorter cut from it, so you are not paying for four separate productions to cover four stages of attention.

• Why length follows placement
• First contact: the 6 to 15 second social cut
• The 30-second commercial spot
• The 60 to 90 second website video
• The 2 to 3 minute brand film
• What each length costs
• A checklist for setting your length
• When a longer video is the wrong call

Length follows placement, not preference

The most expensive mistake we run into is a business that decides on a length before deciding where the video runs. A 2-minute overview gets cut for a paid social campaign, the first 3 seconds do no work, and the spend burns on views that leave before the point. Length is a placement decision, and the placement sets the ceiling on how long a viewer will give you.

Short cuts that never hook a viewer waste budget the same way, which is one of the six reasons your video isn't getting views we see repeat across accounts. Plan the placements first, then the lengths those placements reward.

First contact: the 6 to 15 second social cut a stranger sees

The first time a stranger meets your brand, it is almost always a muted, autoplaying clip in a feed, and you have a few seconds before a thumb moves. These cuts run 6 to 15 seconds, open on the product or the face, carry captions, and end on one clear line. This is the format a social media video production plan is built around, because the platforms reward volume and speed here more than polish.

Platform ad formats are the clearest guide to length. On YouTube, a bumper is a fixed 6 seconds and a skippable in-stream ad can be skipped after 5, which tells you the first 5 seconds carry the whole message.

The specs are documented, not guesswork. Google Ads publishes the bumper and skippable formats and their timing, so you can build the cut to the format instead of trimming a long video and hoping it fits.

The 30-second commercial spot for broadcast and pre-roll

Thirty seconds is the workhorse of paid video. It is long enough to set up a problem, show the product doing its job, and close with an offer, and it fits the slots broadcast and connected TV buyers sell. This is the core of commercial video production, and it is the length that most needs a script, because every second is paid for.

The same 30-second master should export in vertical, square, and widescreen for different placements, which is a spec you can confirm against the ad guidelines Meta for Business publishes for feed, Stories, and Reels. A 30-second spot that only exists in one aspect ratio is a spot you will pay to recut later.

The 60 to 90 second website and landing-page video

On your own site the viewer already chose to be there, so you have earned more time. Sixty to ninety seconds is the range for a homepage hero, a services overview, or an explainer that answers the question a visitor came with. It also reads well on a LinkedIn company page, where a longer, informative cut suits a business audience.

Before you shoot this version, decide what the page asks the viewer to do next, because the last 10 seconds should point straight at it. We covered that groundwork in how to prepare for your first commercial video shoot, and it applies to the website cut as much as the paid spot.

The 2 to 3 minute brand film for warm buyers

The longest format that still earns its runtime is the 2 to 3 minute brand film. It works for a founder story, a facility tour, or a deep service explanation, where a viewer has already decided to invest attention. Host it somewhere that keeps the player clean, which is what a platform like Vimeo is built for. Past about 3 minutes, completion falls off fast for anything that is selling rather than teaching.

If your only video is a 3-minute film, you have a warm-buyer asset and nothing for cold traffic. The fix is cutting that film down into the shorter placements above.

What each length costs: video production pricing by placement

Length and price are not the same axis. A 6-second social cut carved from a shoot you already ran costs far less than a 6-second spot that needs its own shoot day. The table maps common lengths to where they run and to our published video production pricing.

All of these ranges are starting points scoped to output. The smartest spend for most businesses is one shoot that feeds several lengths.

A production checklist for setting your length

Before you lock a runtime, work through these. Each one moves the length up or down for a concrete reason. If you want the full menu of formats first, our video production services lay out what each package includes.

• Name the placement first. A feed ad and a sales-page explainer are different lengths.
• Match the length to viewer temperature. A stranger gets 6 to 15 seconds, a warm buyer will give you 2 minutes.
• Check the platform's format. Build to the documented ad spec rather than trimming a long cut to fit.
• Put the message in the first 5 seconds. On skippable and muted placements, the open carries the whole point.
• Plan the aspect ratios up front. Vertical, square, and widescreen from one master saves a recut.
• Cut the long version down, do not stretch a short one up. Padding a 15-second idea to 60 seconds shows.

Quotable: Length is not a taste decision. It is set by where the video runs and how warm the viewer already is, and the same shoot should feed every length you need.

When a longer video is the wrong call

A longer video is wrong when the placement is cold and paid. If you are buying feed impressions from people who have never heard of you, a 2-minute film is money spent on runtime almost no one reaches. It is also wrong when you have no plan for the middle. A long video that repeats its opening for 90 seconds loses the viewer it hooked.

The decision rule we give clients is simple. If the viewer is paying you with a click or a scroll-stop, keep it under 15 seconds. If the viewer chose to be there, you have earned up to 3 minutes. Mile 1 Media is the wrong fit if you want a single long corporate video and nothing else, because our approach is built on one shoot feeding a month of cuts. A freelance editor billing by the single deliverable may suit that need better.

Frequently asked questions

Is a 30-second video too short to explain what we do?

Usually not, if the 30 seconds is scripted around one message. Thirty seconds fails when a business tries to say five things in it. Pick the single most important point for that placement and let the website video or brand film carry the fuller story to a warmer audience.

Do we need a different video for every platform, or can one length work everywhere?

You need different lengths, but not different shoots. One well-planned shoot day should produce a 6 to 15 second cut, a 30-second spot, and a longer website version, each in the aspect ratios its platform wants. Planning the cuts before the shoot is what makes one budget cover them all.

Is a longer brand film worth it for a small local business?

Sometimes, and only in the right spot. A 2 to 3 minute film earns its cost as a founder story or a sales follow-up, where the viewer already wants to know you. As a cold ad it rarely pays off, because the runtime outlasts the attention a stranger gives.

Who should not bother with short-form video at all?

A business with no paid social spend and no organic posting rhythm gets little from short cuts, because short-form pays off on volume and consistency. If you cannot publish regularly, a single strong website video or testimonial is a better use of budget.

How does length change what a video costs?

Length and price move together only up to a point. The shoot day drives most of the cost, so cutting several lengths from one shoot spreads that cost across formats. The real savings come from planning every length you need before the camera rolls.

Related reading

• How Much Does Video Production Cost in South Florida?. The full cost picture behind the ranges in the table above.
• Five Types of Video Every South Florida Business Needs. How the lengths here map to the videos your business actually uses.
• The Best Video Formats for Real Estate Listings in 2026, and Which to Skip. A placement-first take on length for one specific industry.

What happens when you call

Written and reviewed by The Mile 1 Media Team. Last reviewed August 23, 2026.

If you are deciding on length for a campaign, a short call sorts it faster than a spec sheet:

1. A 20-minute discovery call where we ask where the video will run and who it needs to reach.
2. A recommended length and format for each placement, with the cuts one shoot can produce.
3. A scoped quote against our published ranges, so you see the cost before you commit.

When you are ready, book a free discovery call and we will map the right lengths to your placements.