“The attention span is decreasing” – is that so?

I have always been skeptical of the thesis. The fact that Rezo’s “Destruction Part 1: Incompetence” video has now been voted the most successful video in Germany in 2021 based on the views somehow confirms my doubts: This is a hoot of 28 minutes. That’s not a typo, in words: twenty-eight minutes. These include 53,952 comments as of December 1, 2021. Logo – the more than six million views are not all from different people. For example, at least three of them are mine. And turning on the video doesn’t mean that all 28 minutes have been seen in full. On the other hand, it is often said in marketing that longer formats are a deterrent. Blog posts with a long reading time? People jump off as soon as they see the reading time – that has to be cut. IGTV? Dear Reels. The timestamp didn’t stop anyone from starting Rezo’s video. But where does this assumption come from?