How long should your videos actually be?
November 2026
+32%more views for TikToks over 3 minutes long, compared with the same creator's average video.
Short and punchy, or long and detailed? Your own voice, or a trending sound? We compared 563,198 videos from 2,002 creators, each against their own other videos.
The top lessons you can use
- On TikTok, don't be afraid to go long. Videos of 1.5–3 minutes got 9% more views and videos over 3 minutes got 32% more views than the same creator's average video.
- Skip the very short TikToks. Videos under 30 seconds got 6–8% fewer views and far fewer saves.
- On Instagram, keep it short. Reels under 15 seconds got 19% more views, while 30–45 second Reels did worst (11% fewer views).
- Use your own voice. Videos with your own audio got about 17% more views than videos using someone else's sound.
- If you do use someone else's sound, pick a popular one: they did a little better than obscure ones.
Key points
TikToks over 3 minutes got 32% more views and 51% more saves per view than the same creator's average video.
TikToks under 15 seconds got 6% fewer views and 38% fewer saves per view.
On Instagram, Reels under 15 seconds got 19% more views; 30–45 second Reels got 11% fewer views.
Videos with the creator's own audio got about 17% more views than videos using a borrowed sound.
The share of TikToks over a minute grew from 40% to 43% since early 2025. The typical video is 51 seconds.
78% of talking-head TikToks use the creator's own audio; 22% use a borrowed sound.
The specifics
TikToks over 3 minutes get 32% more views
We compared each creator's videos of different lengths with their own average video. On TikTok, the longer the video, the more views: 1.5–3 minutes got 9% more views and 3+ minutes got 32% more views. Very short videos did worst: under 15 seconds got 6% fewer views and 15–29 seconds got 8% fewer views.
Longer videos get saved and shared far more
Saves per view climbed steadily with length, from −38% for videos under 15 seconds to +51% for videos over 3 minutes. Shares followed the same pattern. Longer videos tend to teach more, which is what people save.
On Instagram, shorter is better
Instagram went the other way. Reels under 15 seconds got 19% more views than the same creator's average Reel, and 30–45 second Reels did worst (11% fewer views). Long Reels didn't get the boost they get on TikTok.
Your own voice beats a borrowed sound
When creators used someone else's sound (a trend audio, a lip-sync, or another creator's clip) instead of their own audio, those videos got about 17% fewer views than their own-voice videos. Popular sounds did about 3% better than obscure ones, but still trailed the creator's own voice.
Creators are already going longer
The share of talking-head TikToks over a minute grew from 40% in early 2025 to 43% in late 2026, and the typical video is now about 51 seconds long.
On TikTok, longer videos get more views
Each video length against the same creator's average video. Green means more than their usual; red means fewer.
Views
Saves per view
Shares per view
Only creators who posted at least two different lengths count. Longer videos are often tutorials or stories, which also tend to be saved more.
On Instagram, short Reels do best
Each Reel length against the same creator's average Reel.
303 Instagram creators, their latest 100 or so Reels each, so these ranges are wider than TikTok's.
TikToks are getting longer
Share of talking-head TikToks over a minute long, and the typical length, by quarter.
| Quarter | Over 1 minute | Typical length |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q1 | 40% | 49s |
| 2025 Q2 | 40% | 47s |
| 2025 Q3 | 41% | 48s |
| 2025 Q4 | 43% | 49s |
| 2026 Q1 | 42% | 49s |
| 2026 Q2 | 45% | 53s |
| 2026 Q3 | 45% | 53s |
| 2026 Q4 | 43% | 51s |
Your own voice beats a borrowed sound
Videos using the creator's own audio against videos using someone else's sound (a trend audio, a lip-sync or another creator's clip), each compared with the same creator's average.
Views
Saves per view
TikTok only. "Popular" = a sound at least 10 different creators in our data used. TikTok doesn't report music mixed under a creator's own voice, so this doesn't measure background music.
Short answers from this study
Questions people ask
What's the best length for a TikTok video?
Longer than most people think. Compared with the same creator's average video, 1.5–3 minute TikToks got 9% more views and 3+ minute TikToks got 32% more views. Videos under 30 seconds did worst.
What's the best length for an Instagram Reel?
Short. Reels under 15 seconds got 19% more views than the same creator's average Reel; 30–45 second Reels got 11% fewer views.
Should I use a trending sound on a talking-head video?
Your own voice did better. Videos using someone else's sound got about 17% fewer views than the same creator's own-voice videos. If you do use one, popular sounds did a little better than obscure ones.
Do longer videos get saved more?
Yes. Saves per view went from −38% for videos under 15 seconds to +51% for videos over 3 minutes.
Does adding background music help?
We can't tell yet. TikTok only reports whether the whole soundtrack is your own or a reused sound, not whether music is mixed under your voice. We plan to measure background music directly in a future study.
Images to post, repost and embed
Free to use under CC BY 4.0. Keep the credit on the image, and link to yapanddone.com/studies/video-length when you can. Feed cards are 4:5 for Instagram and LinkedIn; story cards are 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Stories.
Charts for articles
Length is one lever. The hook is a bigger one
Our other studies look at how often to post and what makes each video work.
How often should you actually post? What makes a hook actually work?How we did it
- Creators and videos: the same 1,699 TikTok and 303 Instagram creators as our follower and posting studies, at any size, in 10 niches, with their posts back to January 2025 (Instagram: their latest 100 or so Reels). We left out videos under 14 days old, pinned videos, ads and the video we first found each creator through.
- Comparison: each video against the median views of the same creator's other videos within ±30 days. Then each length (or sound) is compared with that creator's own average across the lengths (or sounds) they used, and averaged across creators. Only creators who used at least two lengths (or sounds), with at least 3 videos each, count.
- Sound: "your own audio" is TikTok's "original sound" for the creator. "A borrowed sound" is any other sound; "popular" means at least 10 different creators in our data used it.
- Ranges are 95% ranges from the spread across creators.
Limitations
- A creator's longer videos are often a different kind of video (tutorials, stories), so length and content go together. Comparing each creator with themselves removes differences between creators, but not between their own long and short videos.
- TikTok counts a view when a video starts playing, so longer videos don't get extra views just for being long.
- TikTok reports whether a whole soundtrack is the creator's own or reused; it doesn't report music mixed under the creator's voice.
- Instagram data covers each creator's latest 100 or so Reels, and Instagram doesn't report sounds, saves or shares here.
- English-language talking-head creators in 10 niches; other kinds of accounts may differ.
Use it, cite it
The aggregated results are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Journalists, researchers and AI agents can pull the full numbers below; the plain-text summary contains the whole study.
Cite as
Press questions or a custom cut of the data (a niche, a platform, an account size): contact us. We refresh this study each quarter; this page always shows the latest snapshot.