Let’s say someone sends you a video to watch. How long can said video be before you decide it’s too long to watch?
For the purpose of this question, let’s assume you’re trying to decide whether to watch it or not right when you receive it. Let’s also assume that it’s moderately interesting (5/10).
Length of video doesn’t factor into whether I watch it at all. If I decide to watch the video, I’ll either watch the whole thing, stop halfway, or just skip forwards to various points depending on how well it caught my interest.
What determines if I open it at all has more to do with who sent it to me, why they sent it to me, and what the title/thumbnail looks like.
The who: I don’t bother clicking on videos from most people. Usually I’m away from my pc at the time and don’t have headphones in so I really can’t be bothered. There are a couple of friends that have very consistently sent me hilarious or fascinating content though, and I will either watch those right away or save it to a watchlist for later. This is a very short and exclusive list.
The why: Context matters. I generally don’t bother watching videos that get sent to me without any sort of explanation - if it’s nothing but a link, it might as well be nothing. If the person sending it can’t even think of an emote or a couple of words to add to it, it’s probably not worth watching. In contrast, sometimes friends will send me a video to get my opinion on something, or to share their current special interest, or because it’s something they’ve made themselves. Those, I will always watch regardless of length. If my close friends are invested in it, I am too to some extent.
The what: If the video has a clickbait title/thumbnail, I’m not clicking it no matter how interesting it sounds.
I most cases, the decision is made long before I even notice the length of the video