I want to work on documentary videos.

[StoreVccHelp]

Help me. Will a short channel be better for documentary videos? Or will a long video upload channel be better?

 

[Tictioni]

Start uploading shorts, and once you gain more traction, upload longer videos as well.

 

[Killswitchs]

go long if u got deep story, yt pushes watchtime hard. but shorts can bait traffic into long form. best run both. shorts build subs, longs build hours. stack both

 

[Wynodi]

Help me. Will a short channel be better for documentary videos? Or will a long video upload channel be better?

better to make longer videos. you can use AI. monetization on shorts is shit.

 

[pascaltchuen]

Help me. Will a short channel be better for documentary videos? Or will a long video upload channel be better?

You can go with a hybrid approach.
Start with a small, high-quality channel to build your credibility.
Then, gradually add shorter, more varied or complementary videos on a regular schedule.
That gives you the best of both worlds: authority + reach.

 

[garrolouss]

It depends on your goal and audience.

• Short videos (under 5–10 mins) work well for attention-grabbing, mobile viewers, and building quick engagement. Great for starting out or summarizing big topics.
• Long videos (10–30+ mins) are better for deep storytelling, watch time, and monetization. YouTube rewards longer retention.

Tip: Start with short documentaries to build interest, then mix in longer, detailed ones as your channel grows.

Consistency + quality = success. Choose what you can produce best!

 

[mathunwitting]

Depends on your style and audience. Shorts can help you grow fast, but long videos are better for deeper storytelling and watch time. Maybe mix both?

 

[camgroup]

Upload long and short both, short helps in user attraction long build trust

 

[Roko]

Shorts channel videos helps to get new viewers documentary long form is always good but should be non boring

 

[TNT_123]

Let divide a long documentary video to shorts of 2-3 minutes.

 

[doubledreams]

long form, so you can then chop it up & recycle into shorts, might as well stone two birds at once IMO

 

[globalvena]

Help me. Will a short channel be better for documentary videos? Or will a long video upload channel be better?

Generally, long videos is what pays the bills on YouTube. YouTubers makes money through ads, if you're doing shorts, you have to wait till you hit a million views.

Now, let's talk about documentary. It would be extremely difficult to summarise history or facts. Work with long videos of between 10- 25 minutes.

In between, I am a YouTube script writer. We can work together.

 

[BalticProxy_Eu]

Can be both. Personally, if I'm the audience I would love documentaries to be long so they can be more informational. But posting short vids can help promote it.

 

[JB2302]

You have to do the shorts, no matter what. You can skip the longer ones at the start.

 

[Box Phone Farm]

Help me. Will a short channel be better for documentary videos? Or will a long video upload channel be better?

Hi,

If you want to make documentary videos, here’s a simple way to look at it:

• Short videos (Shorts) are great for grabbing attention fast. You can use them to tease your full documentaries or share quick facts. It helps your channel grow faster in the beginning.
• Long videos are better if you want people to really watch and understand your story. They also give more watch time, which helps your channel’s ranking.

The best way? Do both. Use short videos to attract people, then guide them to your full documentary.
Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes — I’ve seen others grow using this method.

 

[VerifiedAssets]

Learned this the hard way running history docs - shorts will spike your subs but murder your watch time. YouTube's algo now treats shorts and long-form viewers as completely separate audiences. After testing both approaches, here's what stuck:

Start with long-form first, even if it grows slower. The algorithm types your channel based on early uploads - we got stuck in shorts jail for months because our first 5 videos were vertical. Once you've got 3-4 proper docs up (12+ minutes works best for midroll placement), then use shorts as teasers.

Take your strongest 60 seconds from each long doc, add "Full story in bio" captions, and space these repurposed shorts 2-3 days apart. Our retention on long videos jumped 40% when we stopped posting original shorts and only used clipped content.

Under 8 minute docs get crushed by the algo now. Our 7-minute test videos earned 62% less RPM than 12-minute cuts of the same content.

 

[StoreVccHelp]

both helps depend on the length of video decided to start with, uploading short documentary videos could help has starter to grow channel fast before proceed to long time view chanel option.

Thank you for your opinion.

 

[StoreVccHelp]

Start uploading shorts, and once you gain more traction, upload longer videos as well.

I'm doing that now and can see some issues that are frustrating me.

 

[StoreVccHelp]

go long if u got deep story, yt pushes watchtime hard. but shorts can bait traffic into long form. best run both. shorts build subs, longs build hours. stack both

Is there a minimum number of short videos I can upload before I can move on to long videos?

 

[StoreVccHelp]

better to make longer videos. you can use AI. monetization on shorts is shit.

I started with a few long videos but they don't get many views or subscribers.