It's a tough question with an ever-changing answer: "How long should our ad spot be?" A shrinking audience attention span has dropped ad length from 60 seconds to 30, 15 and even 5, making it harder for agencies to come up with creative that stands out. However, the trend seems to be shifting back to longer ads, whhich lately have been creating more of a buzz. Why? Basically, they're entertaining.

In an article in Advertising Age, Rupal Parekh points out that while media consumption is up—7½ hours today, up from 6½ in 2004—people multitask more, so their attention is increasingly divided. That said, Parekh notes that "brands are learning that even though media segments are getting smaller and smaller, consumers enjoy engaging with long-form content—when it's good, of course."

Hulu.com ran an experiment 18 months ago where the viewers were given a choice of watching either a 2-minute ad before an online program or a couple of 30-second ads in the midst of a program. Interestingly, 88% of the viewers chose to watch the 2-minute ad, which shows that audiences are open to longer ads. These longer ads have proven to be a great connection between television and digital, since longer ads work well on Web sites and social networks to generate higher site views because they're entertaining. Moreover, shorter versions of the ad can be placed on television, which entices people to search for the rest of the video online. An example of a brand that chose to go with the longer spots is Nike. To reach music lovers, Nike created a 3-minute ad focused on the art of dropping beats by using sneakers. Following this trend, Absolut Vodka recently created a 15-minute commercial with a documentary feel that featured rapper Jay-Z. And Lady Gaga has also gone long-form, working in some strategic product placement in her latest video, "Telephone": she actually stops in the middle of her video to make a sandwich using Wonder classic white bread and Miracle Whip mayonnaise.

So the question is: are you ready to go long?

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Source: Advertising Age-May 3, 2010, Why long-form ads are the wave of the future by Rupal Parekh