Short form video statistics, platform by platform

Short form video statistics from the platforms themselves are mostly rules, not results. TikTok’s creative guidance asks for a hook in the first 6 seconds and the proposition in the first 3; Meta’s Reels ad guide keeps 14% of the top and 35% of the bottom free of text; YouTube classes square or vertical videos up to 3 minutes as Shorts. For completion, Vidyard’s 2024 data shows 65% of viewers finishing business videos under a minute.

What each platform publishes

The three platforms were read on their own help and ads pages on 21 October 2026, and they publish different things.

TikTok gives creative guidance rather than specifications on its best practices page: shoot vertical 9:16 at 720p or higher, use sound or music, put the hook in the first 6 seconds and the proposition in the first 3, show 5 to 10 words a second when using on screen text, and keep content inside the interface safe zone. It recommends 3 to 5 creatives per ad group. It does not give a recommended length on that page.

Meta gives precise specifications for Reels ads on Instagram: 9:16 at 1440 by 2560 pixels, from 0 seconds to 15 minutes, up to 4 GB, MP4 or MOV, with 44 characters of primary text. Sound is optional but strongly recommended, captions optional but recommended. Its safe zone is the most exact of the three: leave at least 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free from text, logos or other important elements.

YouTube defines a Short by shape and length: from 15 October 2024, a square or vertical video up to three minutes long is categorised as a Short. Anything landscape is a regular video.

What the platforms do not publish

None of the three pages publishes a completion rate, an average watch time or the share of viewers watching with sound on. Figures quoted for those in many round ups could not be traced to a platform page that states them, so they are not repeated here. That gap matters: a statistic about sound off viewing attributed to a platform is usually a third party survey.

What measured data says about length

For results, the best published sources are the video hosting platforms that count every play. Vidyard’s 2024 benchmark of 943,305 business videos found 65% of viewers stayed to the end of videos under a minute and 20% to the end of videos over 20 minutes. Wistia, from more than 13 million videos, reports a 52% average engagement rate for videos under a minute and says the shorter the video, the higher the engagement rate. Both datasets are mostly business videos hosted on websites, not social feeds, so they show direction rather than a number for TikTok or Reels.

The video marketing statistics post covers both datasets in more detail.

The four measures side by side

• Length: YouTube draws a line at 3 minutes, Meta allows 15, TikTok’s guidance does not set one. Measured completion is highest under a minute.
• Sound: TikTok and Meta both ask for it. Neither publishes how many people listen.
• Hook: only TikTok publishes timings, 3 seconds for the proposition and 6 for the hook.
• Safe zones: Meta publishes percentages; TikTok points to its ad specifications; YouTube’s Shorts page publishes none. The safe zones for Reels, TikTok and Shorts post measures them in pixels.

How the videos on this site compare

Of the 20 video examples on this site, 13 are vertical 9:16, from 18 to 31 seconds; the fitness app UGC video is one of them. All 13 sit well under the one minute mark where completion is highest, and the generator that made them draws captions into the frames by default, so a video made this way can work with the sound off. The other 7 are landscape.

A checklist from the platform pages

1. Export vertical 9:16 at 1080 by 1920 or higher.
2. State the point in 3 seconds and land the hook by 6.
3. Keep on screen text short and out of the top 14% and bottom 35%.
4. Use sound, and caption every spoken line.
5. Keep ads under a minute, usually 15 to 30 seconds.

The 9:16 against 4:5 against 1:1 page compares frame shapes, the YouTube Shorts size page gives the pixel sizes, and video captions best practices covers the text.

Making one video work on three platforms

Because the three platforms agree on shape, one vertical edit can serve all of them if it respects the strictest rule from each. Keep it under three minutes so YouTube files it as a Short, and in practice well under one minute for an ad. Put the proposition in the first three seconds, as TikTok asks. Keep all text and logos inside the frame Meta’s percentages leave clear: nothing in the top 14%, the bottom 35% or 6% at each side. On a 1080 by 1920 frame that leaves a box roughly 950 pixels wide and 980 pixels tall in the upper middle of the screen.

Sound is the other shared decision. Both TikTok and Meta ask for it, but neither tells you how many people hear it, so plan for both cases. Write narration that adds to the pictures, and caption every spoken line so the story survives with the sound off. On screen text should be short enough to read at TikTok’s suggested pace of 5 to 10 words a second.

Export one master at 1080 by 1920, check it on a phone with each app’s interface showing, and adjust only the text positions if something is hidden.

In the product

The video generator offers landscape and vertical formats, and a video can be switched between them in the builder. Captions are drawn into the frames from the narration and are on by default, with a safe area bottom inset of 120 pixels on a vertical video. UGC videos stay under 30 seconds with at most three talking scenes. The vertical video maker page shows the format, and the guide to exporting for YouTube, Reels and TikTok covers the export.