Little experiment you can participate in.

[Nigel Davey]

Hi everyone. My name's Nigel and I live in the UK and make videos... mostly for Christian organisations.

Recently I was discussing with one of my clients what is more likely to get folks to watch 'all' of a Christian video. We've probably all started watching online videos and decided to abort after a few seconds. Whereas other videos keep us hooked until the very end.

So I'd like to try a little experiment that might shed some light on that... and possibly help me make more engaging Christian videos in the future.

I've chosen three Christian testimonial videos that for one reason or another have certain strengths and weaknesses. I would like you to watch 'only' the first 30 seconds of each of one and then stop watching. It's fine to read the short introduction synopsis below before watching, but don't watch any more than 30 seconds of each video.... or the experiment won't work.

Once you've watched the first 30 seconds of all 3, please rank them in the order of which video you'd be most likely to watch the rest of. In other words 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

Here are the videos:

Paul Sanders - Top photographer who tried to commit suicide:

Brett – Who couldn’t see a way out of his massive debt:

Joey – The professional dancer living the Hollywood lifestyle until an injury ended her career:

Thank you for your participation. You have my word there is no ulterior motive in making this post. It's purely for the reasons outlined above. I want to make more engaging Christian videos if I can

 

[miamited]

Hi nigel,

Well, 2 and 3 hardly get started before the 30 second mark. Number 1 does begin some dialogue before that, but...

How would I rank them based on your parameters? 2-1-3

God bless you and the work that you do in sharing the life stories of others who have come to find the peace, satisfaction and hope that only comes through knowing Jesus.

In Christ, ted

 

[Nigel Davey]

Thanks Ted. Yes, the issue of 'hardly getting started' is one I'm aware of and it's one of the reasons I set a limit of 30 secs in this experiment. Based on the very short content viewers access in that 30 secs, they inevitably decide whether to stay tuned. Given the differences between these three videos, I'm trying to work out how important the visuals (pretty pictures) are vs. a powerful opening hook (statement).

Right now I'm editing quite a lot of talking head testimonies (ie you only see the person speaking with no illustrative clips of what they are talking about) for a large Christian organisation. They go out and shoot the person talking (aka talking head) and then pass on the footage for me to edit. Some of the testimonies they capture are very powerful, but I wonder if a proportion of the audience disengage from them purely because they are somewhat bland in their delivery/presentation.

If that's the case maybe 'any' sort of visual at the start of these testimonies might do the trick in keeping the audience engaged until the actual story bites them.

You may be aware most folks will watch an online video for 20-30 secs before deciding whether to bale out.

So as previously explained, my experiment is trying to get a handle on what takes highest priority in that 30 secs... visuals, the hook, a combination of both.... and if so, which one takes priority.

Thanks for taking part. I appreciate it.

Nigel.

 

[puregrl]

It is difficult since the second and third dont really get started in the first thirty seconds. But if i am not intrigued in the first 30 or so seconds I give up. For that reason I rank them as 1, 3, 2. (third is second purely because I like dance more than talking about debt).