Here’s a simple idea: Keep your web videos short. It is better to have ten 4-minute episodes than one 40-minute episode. We try to keep our web videos to less than 10 minutes (in fact less that 5 in almost all cases).
Web videos tend to be consumed during things like work breaks, downtime, and airplane flights. Others will use them during commutes on the morning train or the subway. Think of web video and podcasts as portable, on-demand learning or entertainment. Remember that your audience is often watching web video on portable media players with small screens. Be sure to keep the total run time low to avoid viewer fatigue.
In the training videos we produce, we try to limit topics to one per episode. And if a single topic takes more than 10 minutes to explain, then we’ll split the video into two or three parts. This way the viewer can download Part 1 and start watching it while they’re waiting for the rest to download or be released. There’s nothing wrong with multiple parts. That’s the whole concept of serializing a web video into an actual series that builds up a subscription and viewership base.
To learn how to make great web video check out Professional Web Video.