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Okay, so maybe attention spans are shorter… However, the conclusion that ‘videos can’t be long’ can be disputed. There’s one key thing that I’m going to coin right here, right now: ‘The Carlength Podcast Effect’. Catchy, I know.

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With this theory (anecdotally backed up by many), people will not choose content if it’s not long enough to last the length of their entire journey. Be it by car, bus, train or boat, if they need to switch midway through, it will factor in their choosing it to begin with.

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Unlike music, where you’ll enjoy a shuffled music mix, you may not want the next auto-selected piece of long-form content. Or even worse…you start and finish one episode, and get 5 minutes into the next really juicy episode, only to have to turn it off as you’ve arrived at your destination. Bummer.

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The moral of this micro tale is: Don’t be afraid of going against what you think is expected, trending or popular. If, for your specific context, going against the grain enhances the user’s experience – do it.