Why Adverts are traditionally short

Traditionally, majority of the advertisements you’ve seen or heard are short, typically between 15–45 seconds. Have you ever wondered why they are short? Before we answer that question, let’s take a look at what the purpose of an ad is in the first place. Adverts/commercials are created for two objectives in mind, (1) to inform the target audience, and (2) to seek emotional appeal from the target audience. I’m sure you’ve seen quite a number of ads in your lifetime already, and you would agree with me that there are some ads that just go straight to the point to highlight the features of a product and ask you to “buy now” straightaway. Some others linger on for a while to tell a story and try to emotionally blackmail you…sorry, emotionally appeal to you. These are the two main purposes of an ad. Some other times brands use their ads just to entertain their audience without necessarily trying to market their product to them. They can also use them to communicate other types of information or messages such as social awareness or their stance on a particular social issue. So you’re probably curious, “so when should brands go short or long?” The short answer is: go short when you want to inform about a product; go long when you want to make an emotional appeal. So back to the question, “why are adverts traditionally short?”

1. Airtime is Expensive

Besides the fact that it traditionally costs a lot of money to place an ad on a popular TV station, the airtime you get for your ad is actually expensive. It is expensive because such international TV stations like CNN, BBC, SuperSport, etc. have pre-scheduled programmes and allotted advertisement time in between them. For the TV stations, advertisement is a major source of income, so they obviously want to be able to fit in as many adverts as possible into their allotted advert windows. As a result, the shorter the ad the better for them, and indeed everyone. Advertisers who can pay for it want their ads on an international TV station with wide viewership. Imagine not being able to get your advert in because one person takes up the entire 5-minute advert window available. So the shorter, the happier everyone is…basically!

2. It makes Repetition easier

There’s a popular saying, “repetition drives it home.” Sometimes you have to see an ad over and over again to get the message and truly appreciate the concept behind it especially as you could have seen it first at a time you were distracted by something else. But the main reason why repetition is necessary is because it keeps the brand top-of-mind. It’s like calling, texting, and visiting someone from time to time to keep the relationship fresh, healthy, and growing stronger. It becomes harder to repeat your ad if it is too long. When it is short, it is easier for the TV station to repeat.

3. Information overload

Generally our memory can only remember 4 to 9 things at any given time. What this means is when you are going on and on about the many features of a product in an ad and it’s running over a minute already, you stand the risk of making some pieces of information in the ad redundant because you are giving the viewer so much do. If the information you’re giving the viewer is new information to them, it’s more tasking for their brain to process. So say less and hit the point straight — keep it short!

4. The longer, the more room for holes, gaps and confusion

This point should be pretty straightforward following from the previous point. The longer your ad is the more information you have to give to your viewer and the more work you’re asking your viewer to do, which they are mostly likely not be willing to do. Once it gets too long, you begin to lose them gradually and this begins to create information gaps and holes, and possibly confusion in the minds of the viewers.

5. The longer, the harder you try to please

This is natural when you are trying to sell an idea or convince someone to buy something. The longer you talk, and the harder you try to convince them, the harder it actually becomes to convince or please them. It easily comes across as trying too hard to please, and once people notice that they become uninterested.