Most explainer videos run between 60 seconds and 2 minutes. In our data the median explainer is 88 seconds (1:28), 54% run 90 seconds or less, and 79% run 2 minutes or less. B2B explainers run a little longer (1:32) than B2C (1:23).
Key findings
- The median explainer video runs 88 seconds. The middle half run 68 to 113 seconds.
- Only 15% of explainers are 60 seconds or shorter, even though "keep it under a minute" is the most common advice.
- Length follows the job. Commercials run 30 seconds at the median, brand videos 68, explainers 88, training 111.
- Videos are getting longer, not shorter. The median animated video rose from 83s (2015–18) to 90s (2023–26).
- B2B runs 92 seconds, B2C 76 at the median, across 948 videos.
- B2B leans infographic (50%), B2C leans character (53%).
- Character animation's share more than halved, from 48% to 22%. Infographic rose to 42%.
- Whiteboard grew from 7% to 11% and runs longest of any style, at 112 seconds.
- Healthcare (90s) and software (88s) run longest. Retail and consumer brands run shortest (67s).
- AI-assisted animation is about 4% of 2023–26 projects, up from effectively zero.
How long should an explainer video be?
Two-thirds of the projects in this benchmark are explainers: 692 videos made to walk someone through a product, a service or an idea. Compared with every other kind of animated video, explainers bunch tightly in the 61–120 second range. They rarely go under a minute, because a minute is seldom enough to set up a problem and show how it gets solved.
Explainer videos vs. all animated videos, by length
Explainer median 88s, middle half 68–113s. All animated videos: median 85s, middle half 64–115s. Bars are drawn on a 0–40% scale.
Median length by video type
A commercial has to land one idea before the viewer skips. Training and internal videos have a captive audience and more to teach, so they run two to four times longer. The explainer sits in the middle, because it has to earn attention and then keep it.
Find the benchmark for your video
Pick your industry and audience to see the typical length and style of the videos companies like yours commissioned.
What marketers said vs. what got made
In 2024 we surveyed video marketers about what they preferred. This time we looked at what companies actually commissioned. The two don't always agree.
of people said they prefer videos 30 seconds to 1 minute long.
of the explainers we produced ran 60 seconds or less. The median explainer ran 88 seconds.
of businesses said they had already started using AI for video creation.
of our 2023–2026 projects used AI-assisted animation as the finished style.
of businesses felt handcrafted videos have an edge over AI productions.
of our 2023–2026 projects were handcrafted: infographic, character, mixed media, whiteboard or 3D.
The AI figures measure different things. The survey asked about any AI use in the workflow; our figure counts only projects where AI generation was part of the finished animation style.
Are videos getting shorter? Not in our data
The usual claim is that shrinking attention spans keep pushing videos shorter. Our production log says otherwise. The median ran 82–90 seconds from 2015 to 2018, dipped to 71–81 seconds in 2019–2021, and has sat between 86 and 92 seconds every year since 2022.
Median animated video length, year by year
Median seconds per year, with the number of videos timed under each year. Columns are drawn from zero on a 0–100 second scale. *2026 runs through September. Explainers alone held roughly steady (88s, 90s, then 83s across a smaller 2023–26 sample of 56), which suggests the overall rise comes from other kinds of work rather than longer explainers.
B2B vs. B2C: two different playbooks
The audience split was almost even (472 B2B, 484 B2C), which makes this a fair comparison. B2B videos run about 16 seconds longer. That's the cost of explaining something with more moving parts to a buyer who has to justify the decision to someone else.
Median length and style mix by audience
B2C leans on characters because the job is usually recognition: the viewer needs to see themselves in the story fast. If you're a B2B team copying a B2C playbook (short, character-led, emotion first), you may be cutting exactly the part your buyer needed.
How animation styles have shifted since 2015
Character animation, once the default, is now one choice among several. Mixed media had a moment in 2019–2022 and has settled back. Whiteboard, which many people wrote off years ago, has grown, mostly in long-form B2B explainers where clarity matters more than polish.
Share of videos by animation style
| Style | 2015–18 | 2019–22 | 2023–26 | Median length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Character | 48% | 34% | 22% | 79s |
| Infographic | 37% | 32% | 42% | 87s |
| Mixed media | 6% | 25% | 18% | 74s |
| Whiteboard | 7% | 8% | 11% | 112s |
| 3D | 2% | 2% | 2% | 107s |
| AI-assisted | 0% | 0.2% | 4% | n/a |
Whiteboard runs longest because it's usually chosen for teaching. Mixed media runs shortest because it's often used for ads, social cuts and brand spots. AI-assisted length is not shown: only 9 videos so far. Share columns may not sum to exactly 100% because of rounding.
How industry changes the brief
Healthcare and software need the most time because they carry the most to explain: clinical steps, compliance, product architecture. Financial services is the most infographic-heavy industry (59%), because when the subject is money, clarity beats charm. Nonprofits, schools and public agencies go the other way, with 57% using character animation, because their stories are about people.
Length range and style by industry
| Industry | Share | Median | 0:001:002:003:00 | Most common style |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software & technology | 34% | 88s | Infographic (55%) | |
| Retail & consumer | 17% | 67s | Character (38%) | |
| Healthcare & life sciences | 15% | 90s | Infographic (33%) | |
| Financial services | 11% | 77s | Infographic (59%) | |
| Professional services | 9% | 78s | Character (41%) | |
| Nonprofit, education & government | 8% | 87s | Character (57%) | |
| Manufacturing & industrial | 7% | 82s | Character (38%) |
Shaded band = middle half of videos in that industry; orange tick = median. Retail's wide band reflects a mix of very short spots (a quarter of its videos run 18 seconds or less) and much longer product videos. The mix has shifted too: nonprofit, education and government work grew from 3% of our videos in 2015–18 to 10% in 2019–22 and 14% in 2023–26, while healthcare peaked at 22% in 2019–22 and has settled at 15%.
What this means for your next explainer
Start with the job, then pick the length
Decide what the viewer should understand or feel by the end, then cut everything that doesn't serve it. A commercial and a training video are different jobs, and the data shows it.
B2B teams can take the extra 16 seconds
Don't cut a complex story to fit a consumer benchmark. Do make every one of those seconds earn its place.
Pick style for the message, not the trend
Infographic for systems and data, character for people and emotion, whiteboard for teaching.
Planning one now? See how we approach explainer video production, or browse types of explainer videos with examples.
Methodology
This benchmark covers every animated video Broadcast2World produced between 2015 and September 2026, as recorded in our internal production log. Year comes from each project's code. Length comes from the production log for 926 videos and from the final delivered video file for 372 more. Animation style is recorded for 1,308 videos and video type for 1,043, of which 692 (66%) are explainers. Industry comes from the production log and, where that was blank, from the client's company record in our CRM; the industry section covers the 735 videos we could assign to one of seven groups. Language versions of the same video count as separate videos. Percentages use only videos where that field is known.
These are our own productions, not a survey of the whole market, so they reflect the mix of companies that hire an animation studio. No client names or project details are included.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should an explainer video be?
In our data from 692 explainer videos, the median explainer runs 88 seconds (1:28). 54% run 90 seconds or less and 79% run 2 minutes or less. B2B explainers run a median of 92 seconds; B2C explainers 83 seconds.
What is the average length of an animated video?
Across 1,298 animated videos with a known length, the median is 85 seconds, and half of all videos run between 64 and 115 seconds.
Are animated videos getting shorter?
No. The median length of the animated videos we produce rose from 83 seconds in 2015–2018 to 90 seconds in 2023–2026.
Are B2B videos longer than B2C videos?
Yes. Across 948 videos with both length and audience known, B2B videos had a median length of 92 seconds, compared with 76 seconds for B2C.
How long should an animated commercial or brand video be?
Animated commercials in the benchmark have a median length of 30 seconds, and brand videos 68 seconds. Demo and training videos run longer, at 111 seconds.
Which industries make the longest explainer and animated videos?
Healthcare (median 90 seconds) and software (88 seconds). Retail and consumer brands make the shortest, at a median of 67 seconds.
What animation style is most common for B2B videos?
Infographic animation, used in 50% of our B2B videos, followed by character animation at 30%.
Is whiteboard animation still used?
Yes. Whiteboard made up 11% of our 2023–2026 videos, up from 7% in 2015–2018, and it runs longest of any style at a median of 112 seconds.
Cite or embed this benchmark
Use any figure or chart on this page in your article, report or deck. All we ask is a link back to this page. For the underlying numbers or a custom cut, email marketing@b2w.tv.
Broadcast2World. "The B2W Explainer Video Benchmark, 2015–2026." B2W, September 2026. https://www.b2w.tv/explainer-video-benchmark
Looking for the 2024 Video Marketing Survey results?
Highlights from our 2024 survey of video marketers:
- 62% of businesses actively use video in their marketing strategy.
- 98% feel video works as a marketing tool.
- 48% of people prefer 30-second to 1-minute videos.
- 51% of businesses are gravitating towards 2D animation.
- 72% say they get a good ROI from their videos.
- 76% measure video success by leads generated.
- 79% of video marketers feel people in their industry like watching animated videos.
- 63% of people would like to see more animated videos from brands.
- 33% of businesses have started using AI for video creation.
- 90% feel handcrafted videos have an edge over AI productions.