The short answer
- 60s to 2 minutes
- 1.82xprogram median, 26.6% hit 10x
- 15 to 30 seconds
- 0.87x34.8% of videos, 5.8% hit 10x
- Median length
- 25svideos with a known duration
- Programs where longer won
- 11 of 1560s to 2 min vs 15 to 30s, same program
- After 30 seconds, longer does better at every step. 30 to 60 seconds gets 1.07x, 60 seconds to 2 minutes 1.82x and over 2 minutes 3.14x (only 158 videos, so treat the top band as a signal).
- It is not just bigger creators making longer videos. Holding creator size fixed, 60 seconds to 2 minutes beats 15 to 30 seconds by 1.38x (under 1,000 followers), 1.64x (1,000 to 10,000 followers) and 2.78x (10,000 to 100,000 followers).
- It holds for consumer brands as well as apps: 2.14x for beauty, drinks, supplement and apparel programs and 2.07x for apps.
- It holds inside single programs. 60 seconds to 2 minutes beats 15 to 30 seconds in 11 of the 15 programs with at least 10 videos in both bands.
UGC video length and views
Most UGC advice puts the ideal length at 15 to 30 seconds, and most program videos follow it: 4,119 of the 11,371 videos with a known duration (34.8%) run 15 to 30 seconds, and the median video runs 25 seconds. That band has the lowest typical result in the sample.
- Under 15 seconds2,798 videos0.95x
- 15 to 30 seconds4,119 videos0.87x
- 30 to 60 seconds3,359 videos1.07x
- 60 seconds to 2 minutes937 videos1.82x
- Over 2 minutes158 videos3.14x
1.00x is a typical video for that program. Slideshows excluded.
| Segment | Videos | Programs | Median vs program median | Reached 10x | Median views |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 seconds | 2,798 | 37 | 0.95x | 7.3% | 779 |
| 15 to 30 seconds | 4,119 | 32 | 0.87x | 5.8% | 588 |
| 30 to 60 seconds | 3,359 | 35 | 1.07x | 8.4% | 735 |
| 60 seconds to 2 minutes | 937 | 31 | 1.82x | 26.6% | 2,021 |
| Over 2 minutes | 158 | 20 | 3.14x | 36.1% | 5,011 |
Under 15 seconds does slightly better than 15 to 30 (0.95x), so the weak spot is the middle: long enough to need a story, too short to tell one. 30 to 60 seconds beats 15 to 30 seconds in 12 of 19 programs that post both.
Is it just bigger creators making longer videos?
It is a fair question: bigger accounts get more views and post more long videos (31.1% of videos from accounts over 100,000 followers run 60 seconds to 2 minutes, against 5.0% from accounts under 1,000). So we compared lengths inside each creator size band. The long-video edge holds in every band we can measure, and it grows with the creator's audience.
| Creator size | 15 to 30s | 60s to 2 min | Gap (60s to 2 min / 15 to 30s) | 60s to 2 min reached 10x | 15 to 30s reached 10x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,000 followers | 0.72x | 0.99x | 1.38x | 3.8% | 1.5% |
| 1,000 to 10,000 | 1.10x | 1.79x | 1.64x | 19.9% | 8.1% |
| 10,000 to 100,000 | 1.25x | 3.48x | 2.78x | 31.9% | 14.1% |
| 100,000 and over | below minimum (137 videos) | 26.56x | - | 65.0% | - |
Accounts with 100,000 followers or more posted only 137 videos of 15 to 30 seconds, under our 150-video minimum, so that cell is not reported. Inside that band, 60 seconds to 2 minutes (26.56x) still beats 30 to 60 seconds (13.03x). For small accounts the gain is smaller but real: a creator under 1,000 followers gets 0.99x on a long video against 0.72x on a 15 to 30 second one.
Does the best length differ on TikTok and Instagram?
On TikTok, where 84.6% of program videos are posted, 60 seconds to 2 minutes gets 1.61x against 0.89x for 15 to 30 seconds, a gap of 1.81x.
Instagram has fewer long videos: only 103 Reels ran 60 seconds to 2 minutes, below the reporting minimum. The pattern up to a minute is the same: 30 to 60 seconds gets 1.13x against 0.69x for 15 to 30 seconds.
Apps and consumer brands
Most programs in the sample are apps, so we checked consumer brands on their own (3,096 videos from beauty, drinks, supplement and apparel programs such as Celsius, Alani Nu, Poppi and Dr. Squatch).
| Programs | 15 to 30s | 30 to 60s | 60s to 2 min | Gap (60s to 2 min / 15 to 30s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer apps | 0.86x | 1.06x | 1.79x | 2.07x |
| Consumer brands (beauty, drinks, supplements, apparel) | 0.89x | 1.14x | 1.90x | 2.14x |
What to put in your UGC brief
- Ask for one cut of 60 to 120 seconds for the creator to post, with room for a problem, a try and a result.
- Keep a 15 to 30 second edit for ad placements that cap length or where you test many hooks. Short is not wrong; it is just weak as an organic post.
- Shoot both in one session. Our modelled rate card prices a 30-second video at $195 against $150 for 15 seconds for a typical creator under 5,000 followers, so a longer cut costs more, not double. See UGC video rates.
Write the brief with the free UGC campaign brief generator or the UGC script generator, and see how to write a UGC brief.
Method
Sample: 11,849 brand videos posted 1 August 2026 to 30 October 2026 by 46 fully scanned creator programs in the UGC Brands database, TikTok and Instagram. Each video's views are divided by the median views of its own program's videos in the window, so 1.00x is a typical video for that brand and "reached 10x" means at least ten times it. Length bands use the platform's duration; slideshows are excluded. A cell is reported only with at least 150 videos from 8 programs, and the gap between two lengths is computed from unrounded medians. The creator-size, platform and brand-type cuts come from the same pipeline (scripts/build-ugc-video-benchmarks.mjs). Full method and every segment: UGC video benchmarks 2026.
Download the numbers on this page as a CSV file. Free to reuse with a link to this page under CC BY 4.0.
Cite this answer: UGC Agent, "How long should a UGC video be?", UGC Agent answers, published 1 November 2026, https://ugcagent.app/answers/how-long-should-a-ugc-video-be/
Limitations
- These are correlations, not tests. Creators who make longer videos may differ in other ways; holding creator size, platform and brand type fixed reduces that, but does not remove it.
- Over 2 minutes has only 158 videos; the over-100,000-follower band has too few 15 to 30 second videos to compare directly.
- Views are organic post views on the measured date. The data says nothing about how a cut performs as a paid ad from your own account.
- Most programs are apps. Consumer brands are in the sample and show the same pattern, but on fewer videos.