How Long Should a Reel, TikTok, or Short Script Be?
Words per second, word budgets for 15, 30, 60, and 90 seconds, and how to cut a script without talking faster.
Published October 4, 2026
The short answer
Most people speak at roughly 130–170 words per minute in natural, conversational delivery — about 2.5 words per second. That gives these working budgets:
- •15 seconds: 30–40 words.
- •30 seconds: 65–85 words.
- •60 seconds: 130–160 words.
- •90 seconds: 200–240 words.
- •3 minutes: 400–480 words.
Why your script runs longer than the estimate
Written scripts nearly always run long when performed. Numbers take more words to say than to write ("$1,250" is four or five spoken words). You pause for emphasis, the edit needs a beat before the first word, and on-screen demonstrations take time even when you're not talking.
Plan for about 10–15% less than the maximum. If a 30-second video holds 75 words, aim for 65.
Measure your own pace in two minutes
Take any 150-word paragraph and read it out loud at the energy you use on camera. Time it. Divide 150 by the seconds and multiply by 60 — that is your words per minute. Enter it as a custom pace in the Script Timer and every estimate becomes yours, not an average.
How to cut a script that's too long
Talking faster is the wrong fix: viewers notice, and it makes the video harder to follow. Cut words instead:
- •Delete the greeting and any sentence that explains what the video is about. The hook already did that.
- •Merge two examples into one stronger one.
- •Replace a sentence of description with something shown on screen.
- •Cut qualifiers like "basically", "honestly", "kind of", and "I think".
- •Start at the most interesting sentence and see if the context before it is really needed.
Before
"Hey guys! So today I wanted to share something that honestly kind of changed how I think about saving money, which is basically the idea of a no-spend weekend, and I think you're really going to like it." (38 words, ~15 seconds)
After
"One no-spend weekend a month saved me $240 this year. Here's the only rule." (14 words, ~6 seconds)
Why it works: The rewrite keeps the idea and adds a concrete result, in less than half the time — leaving room for the actual tips.
Should the video be shorter or longer?
Length should follow the idea. A single tip rarely needs more than 20–30 seconds, while a story or a tutorial can hold 60–90 if every beat moves it forward. If viewers drop off at the same point in several videos, that point is usually where the script stopped giving them a reason to stay — not a sign that all videos must be shorter.