Publicis Media ANZ launches ‘6 Second Video’ to focus on short-form brand video content creation to counter decreasing consumer attention spans
Publicis Media has announced the launch of 6 Second Video, a new product that focuses on concise, compelling brand stories to cater for decreasing consumer attention spans.
These 6-second videos can be effectively used to build frequency and repetition, while 15- and 30-second videos are used for reach and storytelling. A recent Google study on its bumper ads found that 9 out of 10 short videos drove ad recall, while 61% lifted brand awareness.
The 6 Second Video proprietary product will be available across all platforms in Australia and New Zealand, including Facebook, Google and Publicis Media Precision.
The consumption of video is growing exponentially and now sits at five hours and eight minutes watched daily, with consumer video traffic on the web predicted to reach 80% by next year*. The implication is that brands can be impacted simply by video length, with video views peaking on average at less than three seconds with an average viewing time of five seconds.
Measurement too, has changed and now quantifies a ‘viewing experience’ at three to five seconds, which is considered the industry benchmark for social media success.
Says Publicis Media ANZ Head of Content, Patrick Whitnall (pictured): “We believe that 2018 will be the turning point towards more snackable, bite sized video content and while many media owners are championing short form video, few are creating for it. 6 Second Video will specialise in creating and repurposing short form video to help our clients drive brand equity and conversion.
“Short form video, that features a laser-focused, concise story, can play a unique role in both brand creative and effectiveness. Our new product will establish a consumer connection earlier using our greater understanding of production approaches – such as live action, motion design or cinemagraphs – to make optimal use of the six-second timeframe. We will also specifically design video for mobile first, which achieves greater click-throughs and engagement.”
Says Facebook ANZ managing director, William Easton: “As mobile devices become an ever increasing part of people’s every day lives, it’s never been more important for brands to understand how viewing habits and behaviours are changing. There is a real art to storytelling on mobile, driven by the content people choose to watch, the way they engage and the actions they take. We couldn’t be more excited to be working with Publicis Media on their mobile first initiative which will deliver some excellent best practices across the industry.”
Whitnall leads the Content practice at Publicis Media that was built for the experience economy. It creates, crafts and curates content that delivers a valuable brand experience, with complete content stories that are audience-centric and platform-native. Content is optimised through more inspired use of data.
6 Second Video will work closely with Publicis Media’s agencies – Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry, Blue 449 and Performics – to help clients create and execute creatively dynamic and effective short-form video.
Sources: *Cisco study
5 Comments
Most ads are shit.
People hate them.
Do better ads.
People don’t mind watching funny, clever ads.
They even share them with their friends.
Six seconds is the white flag of surrender.
It’s what Facebook are teaching the clients.
More shit ads more often.
Can we stop with this fallacy that consumer attention spans are getting shorter? It’s totally untrue and not backed by any research or science. In fact, the opposite is true.
This is why I hate this industry sometimes – a lazy, easy to believe truth gets propagated as fact to the point that companies are making fundamental business decisions based on falsehoods. Utter insanity.
@Frustrated Strategist – it’s not a fallacy – it’s fact. Stop neglecting it.
Instead accept it and realise that better content will still draw attention.
Also remember, just because attention IS shorter now that it was a decade ago, doesn’t necessarily mean that people aren’t able to absord just as much information in a shorter period of time.
This lacks SERIOUS insight. Research by Google, leading media agencies and any company with practical knowledge of video shows that longer video dominates on all brand metrics. The only reason 6 seconds is pushed by Facebook is because no-one wants autoplaying ads in their news feed and so the results of longer videos are terrible. It has NOTHING to do with attention span and everything to do with the consumer experience of watching that content. Media agencies & Facebook want to try and beat people scrolling past the video to show a higher average percentage viewed. That is why the average time watched on a 6 second video is almost as good as 1 minute video on Facebook because the engagement is so poor. It is not because of the length of the content, it is not because of attention spans – it is because of the platform and how the videos are shown. If you make relevant content, it does not even need to be good, and don’t force it down people’s throats, all data will show it is watched with strong engagement which proves that the small attention argument is false and only communicated because it is in the interests of those communicating it – facebook and media agencies who’s distribution models work best for shorter content. Again, it is the way the media is consumed, and the video quality, that drives the attention span. Long content is needed to build a brand, recall, engagement, education, consideration. A 6 second video is a long banner ad and means more banner blindness. It is not video. 15 sec and 30 sec is also often not long enough to tell a story. All data I have seen and experienced shows that 1 minute plus dominates shorter content on all brand metrics but they should both be used in unison. 6 second could be used for top of mind brand awareness and retargeting people that watch the 1 minute plus content. 6 seconds is catering for a weakness in distribution and not making the best content for the brand. Brands shoud research long form vs short form ads for independent search advice and not take my words as gospel eventhough they are true
@video mastermind
– very well said.
This feels like an agency that has completely given up and surrendered to Facebook (who itself is struggling from lack of video engagement so has to invent yet another paid ad format for foolish brands)