I believe connecting with audiences is a qualitative experience. That said, “you only have one chance to make a first impression,” and that impression is made pretty quickly.
Torque is collaborating with our friends and partners at Fig Media, to explore the question of speed, quality, time and place for making audience connections through media. Fig is a prolific creator of media for all the senses, in all types of formats and venues. Who better to help us explore the best ways to connect to audiences of one or many?
We were initially inspired by changes in film and video formats. Certainly the feature film length of 120 minutes is becoming a dinosaur (in size, though not yet becoming extinct), second only to printed books in their demand on audience time commitment. The debate still continues as to what the next dominant video entertainment format will be, whether 30 minute shorts or twelve-minute edutainment films. YouTube viewership is on the dramatic increase, as 8.9 billion videos were viewed by 120.3 million U.S. citizens in July. The maximum YouTube video is limited to 10 minutes, with the average being 3 minutes.
In video journalism, Advertising Age Magazine broadcasts a 3-minute online news video show, AdAge Video. In personal video blogging, 12seconds TV “helps you update your friends and family with short video clips that you record with your webcam, mobile phone, or upload.” Video limited to—you guessed it—12 seconds. And the 30-second television ad is giving way, not just to 15 seconds but also 10-second TV spots, which are marketed as providing better frequency and reach for the same cost.
Our attention span is shortening to smaller text bytes as well. Twitter has shown the world that you can stay in touch with 140 characters per microblog post. This has prompted another huge social network site, LinkedIn, to limit their update post length to 140 characters as well.
The Fig and Torque connect team have settled on 120 seconds as a sweet spot for our own format. Not the shortest, and hopefully not so long as to scare off those in a real hurry. After all, connecting with people—also described in business as a ‘contact sport’—is still about quality.
Stay tuned— we will announce our new video Blog 120Connet, to carry on the inquiry!
