How Many Long Videos versus Short Videos Should Your Channel Have for Best Engagement?

Ever since YouTube launched the YouTube Shorts feature, content creators on the platform have found themselves caught up in a conundrum. Many can’t decide whether they should stick to regular videos on the platform, i.e. long YouTube videos, or create short YouTube videos. Also, many YouTubers have been asking what’s the ideal mix of long and short videos that can fetch their channels higher user engagement rates.

In this article, we’ll attempt to put an end to these conundrums for good. So, if you’re new to YouTube and are wondering what kind of content to publish, read on.

Long videos vs short videos: The pros and cons

The answer to the question in this article’s title isn’t a conclusive one. Quite simply, there are no rules as to the number of long videos and short videos your channel should have for better engagement. However, by looking at the pros and cons of both long and short videos, we can hope to provide a clearer answer.

Let’s look at long videos first. These types of videos have been YouTube staples for years, and the majority of YouTube-based content creators rely on these videos to reach out to their respective target audiences. Long YouTube videos offer plenty of pros to content creators compared to short videos, which include the following:

• Great for increasing watch time: In recent years, watch time has emerged as one of the most important metrics on YouTube. It refers to how much time a channel’s content is watched. Quite simply, a channel with more watch time will be pushed more by the YouTube algorithm. Needless to say, long videos are much better than short videos in terms of increasing watch time.
• Better-suited for explaining complex topics: If you want to explain a complex topic to your target audience, you’d be better off making a long video as it will give you more time to do your explaining. On the other hand, YouTube Shorts only gives you a minute to entertain and/or inform audiences. So, it simply isn’t possible to explain complex topics through YouTube Shorts content.
• More time for including call-to-action (CTA) messages: Long videos provide content creators with more time to include a variety of CTA messages that can result in more YouTube likes and YouTube subscribers. You can also spark conversations through long videos, which can generate more YouTube comments as well.
• Option to monetize: In the long run, all YouTubers aim to earn money off the platform. However, that’s only possible through long videos. So far, YouTube hasn’t included Shorts videos in its YouTube Partner Program (YPP). So, if you’re only creating Shorts videos, you don’t stand a chance of earning anything from YouTube.

However, creating long videos on YouTube also comes with its fair share of cons in comparison with short videos, such as:

• It takes more time and effort: Creating long videos for your YouTube channel can be incredibly time-consuming, particularly if the topics you choose are complex. Quite simply, the longer the video, the harder it is to edit. On the other hand, you can create Shorts quickly.
• Does little to target new audiences: Long videos mostly appeal to existing subscribers of a channel. So, if increasing YouTube views is your primary goal, long videos won’t serve your purpose. However, Shorts videos can rapidly increase the number of views.

Conclusion

So, ideally, you should focus on both long and short videos. This will result in more views, subscribers, user engagement, and of course, the possibility of earning money from YouTube in the long run.

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