Is there a formula for a launch video? 317 films say no

Most advice on launch videos hands you a template: hook, problem, solution, demo, call to action. So we tagged every scene of 317 launch videos with its role, and counted the orders they really use. We found 195 different sequences. The most common one accounts for about one film in nine, if you only look at its first three beats.

How launch videos open

The split between the first two is close to even. Starting on the problem, the opening most templates recommend, is rare. Even in the films that have a problem beat at all (28% of them), it comes before the product only a little more than half of the time (56%).

The most common first three beats

The textbook version, hook then problem then product, comes fourth, with 25 of 317 films. It is a real pattern, just not the default.

What nearly all of them share

Under the variety, two beats do the heavy lifting. A product introduction appears in 89% of videos, and feature reveals in 82%, where they take a median 63% of the runtime. A launch film is mostly a tour of what the product does. See every launch overlaid on one timeline.

What this means for your video

These numbers describe what teams do, not what works. Our reading: pick the opening from your audience. If people already feel the pain, a problem beat earns its seconds. If they already know the category, the product can open the film, as nearly half of these do. Either way, plan most of your time for showing what it does.