A holy grail story I know…What defines the perfect video?

Video tastes are subjective, but what if I could show you statistical and empirical evidence that could help you in your discovery of the Holy Grail…er I mean the perfect video?

There is a place I love to go when examining my video stats.

A YouTuber’s best friend, the Insight Feature…

Hidden deep below the surface of the Insight tab is a secret gem called…-Hot Spot.

The Hot Spot Feature can tell you whether your video is instant yawn material or if it’s making people stand up in their chairs screaming…”Wow, this is the Citizen Cane of Web Videos!!”

A Quick Note about the Hot Spot feature from YouTube:

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Here is a screenshot below of a video that has over the 300 views and it was uploaded May 23, 2011.

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Here is the Hot Spot Data from that same video. As you can see, YouTube is saying that there is insufficient data to display the Hot Spot Graph.

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I have tested it out on many videos, and a good rule of thumb for a minimum number of views to guarantee Hot Spot data is about 1300-1500 views.

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First -Entertaining Videos

 

An Entertaining Video analyzed in Hot Spot will usually show that when someone comes to an entertaining video their attention to that video starts HIGH and ends LOW.

Usually an entertaining video loses interest not because the content starts to fail, but usually because the length of the video is too long.

A nice rule of thumb for an entertainment-based video is to keep the video length between 1-3 minutes.Usually anything more and you will begin to loose the attention of the audience.

Second-Informative Videos

An Informative Video will show the complete opposite data…interesting! Informative videos are designed to provide usable information.

The informative video can be in the form of a “How To” video or:

News

Tutorials

Training And More.

The informative video tends to start LOW and end HIGH.

An informative video can be in upwards of 10 minutes long and still hold relative interest. However, I would say at 5 minutes you may notice your training video dropping in interest.

NOW Wrap your mind around this idea…Are there parameters that could define the PERFECT VIDEO?

To start high and end higher…is that possible?

The screenshot represents a video that is approximately 2 minutes long, that is instructional all the way through. But also Entertaining.

Here is the recipe for the parameters around the perfect blend of video:

• Grab the audiences attention in the first 5 seconds-(use animation and music and see if you can choose a crazy cool thumbnail to represent the video…build the interest right away…even before someone watches the video. This will guarantee that you will have high interest right in the beginning of the video.
• Keep the video, if you can to under 3 minutes. A good entertainment video is short and sweet. An entertaining instructional video is even sweeter…
• Capitalize on your audience’s commitment to wanting the value of the video. That will ensure their longevity in watching the full length of the video.
• If you can do the audience the service of offering great value in an entertaining way, your interest will be higher and your margin of interest will be less and less.
• Offer ‘call to actions’ as a source of interaction. With ‘call to actions’ you can manipulate the Hot Spot Graph by deciding where you want your audience members to respond to your ‘call to action’. (You can request that they click through to another video at that 1 minute mark based on your desired goals for the viewer. Therefore the Hot Spot Graphic would dip based on that call to action)
• Call to action techniques can also keep the person WATCHING the video. Here is an example: If the video is 2 minutes long-at 1:oo minute i could have an annotation pop up requesting that the audience keep an eye out for the girl in the blue shirt because a surprise will happens at 1:55 seconds. (eluding to her maybe tripping or crying or slamming into the mirror. The suspense of the unknown can keep the person watching.

A great example of Both Informative and Entertaining-The ever popular OraBrush Guys!

Notice the Thumbnail…Disgusting…yet boom you have my attention…

This Video is a perfect example of the correct blend of both informative and entertaining…Look -it even says “How to tell when your breath is bad.”

So for all of you Video enthusiasts, especially those who have products of your own, realize that by examining the Hot Spot Graph, you can begin to see how interest is measured and how you can tap into using those analytics to find…the perfect video. And sometimes that perfect video might just have brown shiny sludge oozing from a sponge…yuck!

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