Guides / How many words fit in 60 seconds
How many words fit in a 60-second video script
The most common reason an explainer feels rushed is that the script was written to a page count instead of a clock.
The short answer
A 60-second video script is 140 to 160 words at a natural voiceover pace of roughly 150 words per minute.
Write to the lower end. Explainer narration needs pauses for the picture to land, and almost every first draft is too long.
The arithmetic
Comfortable narration for an explainer sits around 150 words per minute. Conversational speech runs faster, 160 to 180, but narration over moving pictures needs air, because the viewer is reading the screen as well as listening.
| Runtime | Words at 150 wpm | Realistic scene count |
|---|---|---|
| 15 seconds | 35–40 | 2–3 |
| 30 seconds | 70–80 | 4–6 |
| 60 seconds | 140–160 | 8–12 |
| 90 seconds | 210–240 | 12–18 |
If your draft is 220 words and the brief says 60 seconds, you do not have a pacing problem. You have 60 seconds of script and 30 seconds of something else.
Why the short one is harder
A 90-second film can afford to explain the category, the problem, the product and the proof. Sixty seconds can carry roughly one idea, stated once and shown clearly. Choosing that idea is the actual work, and it is the part that cannot be delegated to a tool.
The usual failure is a feature list. Five features at twelve seconds each is not a film, it is a menu read aloud, and viewers remember none of it. One capability, demonstrated on the real interface, outperforms it every time.
A structure that survives the clock
- 0–8s. The situation the viewer is already in. No product yet.
- 8–20s. The specific friction. Named, not gestured at.
- 20–45s. The product doing the thing. Real UI, one path through it.
- 45–60s. What is different afterwards, then one clear next step.
That is roughly 150 words. If a section will not fit, it is competing with another section, and one of them has to go before anything is animated.
Read it out loud, timed
Before approving any script, read it aloud at the pace you would actually narrate and time it on a phone. This takes ninety seconds and catches the problem while it is still free to fix. After animation begins, the same cut costs days.
Questions people ask
How many words is a 30-second script?
About 70 to 80 words at 150 words per minute, carrying four to six scenes.
Can we fit more by speaking faster?
Up to a point, and it always shows. Past roughly 170 words per minute narration starts to sound like a disclaimer and the viewer stops absorbing the picture.
Does a script with no voiceover follow the same rule?
No. On-screen text needs longer per word than narration, because the viewer has to read it. Text-only films usually carry fewer words than a narrated one of the same length.
Who writes the script?
At Aurevon, the studio writes it and the client approves it in writing before anything is designed or animated. Revisions on the script are unlimited at that stage.