# How long should your videos actually be?

A study of 563,198 TikTok and Instagram videos from 2,002 creators: video length, and your own voice vs. a borrowed sound. Published 2026-11-08 by Yap & Done. Videos posted January 2025 to October 2026.

Canonical page: https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/ · Data: https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/data.json · https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/data.csv · License: CC BY 4.0

## The top lessons

- 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 findings

- **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.

## TikTok views by length (same creator)

- Under 15s: -6% (-8% to -4%, 1265 creators)
- 15–29s: -8% (-10% to -7%, 1369 creators)
- 30–44s: -4% (-6% to -2%, 1354 creators)
- 45–59s: -2% (-4% to -0%, 1351 creators)
- 1–1.5 min: +0% (-1% to +2%, 1364 creators)
- 1.5–3 min: +9% (+7% to +11%, 1222 creators)
- 3+ min: +32% (+27% to +37%, 627 creators)

## TikTok saves per view by length (same creator)

- Under 15s: -38% (-40% to -37%, 1191 creators)
- 15–29s: -14% (-16% to -13%, 1301 creators)
- 30–44s: -1% (-2% to +1%, 1293 creators)
- 45–59s: +8% (+6% to +9%, 1297 creators)
- 1–1.5 min: +14% (+13% to +16%, 1307 creators)
- 1.5–3 min: +26% (+24% to +28%, 1168 creators)
- 3+ min: +51% (+47% to +56%, 594 creators)

## Instagram views by length (same creator)

- Under 15s: +19% (+9% to +30%, 163 creators)
- 15–29s: +5% (-3% to +13%, 170 creators)
- 30–44s: -11% (-17% to -5%, 169 creators)
- 45–59s: -6% (-12% to +1%, 170 creators)
- 1–1.5 min: -3% (-9% to +3%, 175 creators)
- 1.5–3 min: +4% (-5% to +13%, 145 creators)
- 3+ min: -16% (-30% to +2%, 35 creators)

## TikTok views by sound (same creator)

- Your own audio: +10% (+8% to +11%, 1345 creators)
- A borrowed sound: -6% (-8% to -5%, 1268 creators)
- A popular sound (10+ creators): -4% (-5% to -2%, 1179 creators)

## Method

- 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.

Cite as: Yap & Done (2026). How long should your videos actually be? https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/