Guides · · Maxwell Prehoda
14 Explainer Video Examples, From 30 Seconds to 11 Minutes (and What Each Gets Right)
A good explainer video does one job: it takes a viewer from "what is this?" to "I get it, and I want it" in as little time as the idea allows. The 12 examples below show that in every common format, from Dropbox's homepage video and RSA Animate's whiteboard lecture to 60-second studio pieces for Slack, Google, GoFundMe and TED, and each comes with its running time, because length is the first decision you will make.
Every link goes to the brand's or studio's own upload, and the descriptions and credits come from those pages. The last two entries are ours: short studio pieces you can open, change and export.
1. Dropbox Intro Video, with Common Craft: Best for startups explaining a brand new category
Platform: Common Craft style animation, 2 min 17 s
The early Dropbox homepage video, described in its upload as "Dropbox explained in plain English" and credited to Common Craft, the studio behind the "in Plain English" series. It has close to 4.8 million views on YouTube, and it does what the series is known for: one plain-language story about a problem everyone has, told with simple drawings and no jargon.
This is the classic explainer structure, and it still works: a relatable problem, the product as the turn, then the result. Nothing in the frame is decoration, which is why a low-tech style can carry a product nobody had seen before.
Watch out for: Over two minutes is long by today's standards. The structure travels well; the length does not. A modern homepage version would cut it to 60 to 90 seconds.
2. RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms: Best for turning a long talk into something people finish
Platform: Whiteboard animation, 11 min 40 s
Adapted from a talk Sir Ken Robinson gave at the RSA, with the argument drawn on a whiteboard as the audio plays. It has more than 18 million views on the RSA's channel, and the RSA Animate series made whiteboard explainers a genre of their own.
The drawing gives the eye something to follow through a long, dense argument: each new point appears as a sketch, so the viewer always knows where they are. If you have a recorded talk, webinar or podcast with a strong idea in it, this is the format to steal.
Watch out for: Cheap whiteboard templates made the style look generic. It works here because the drawings are witty and specific to every line; a hand drawing stock icons does not.
3. Slack "Email vs Slack" by Giant Ant: Best for showing why your way beats the old way
Platform: 3D animation, 70 seconds
Giant Ant has made a run of pieces for Slack, and in this one, in the studio's words, they were "making more balls roll around". The credits are almost all 3D modelling and animation, and that one-line summary tells you the approach: physical objects stand in for messages, so the difference between email and channels becomes something you can watch.
A comparison explainer lives or dies on the metaphor. Physical objects instead of screens keep a video from dating every time the product changes, and make the idea readable in any language.
Watch out for: Abstract metaphors can drift away from the product. Test the video on someone who has never used your tool and ask them what it does; if they cannot say, add one product shot.
4. TED Countdown: What is Net Zero? by Giant Ant: Best for a series of short explainers on a deadline
Platform: 2D animation, 64 seconds, part 2 of 5
TED asked Giant Ant for five spots about climate change, produced in four weeks for its global Countdown event and voiced by Kristen Bell. This one answers a single question, what net zero means, in just over a minute; the others cover topics such as why the world is warming and where the carbon goes.
One question per video is the most underused explainer format. Each spot is short enough for social, the series works as a playlist, and a shared style lets five videos be made in the time one long film would take.
Watch out for: A series needs a design system before the first spot is animated: characters, palette, type and transitions. Decide those up front, or the four-week schedule breaks in week two.
5. Amperity "Customer Data" by Giant Ant: Best for B2B data platforms with an invisible product
Platform: Motion graphics, 60 seconds
Amperity's product works in the background, joining up customer data, so there is nothing obvious to film. Giant Ant's description sums up the solution: "we parsed their story. Then we wrapped it in a cube, and made it glow", showing the data powering the platforms Amperity's customers already use. The script was written with the client.
For enterprise software, a single strong object (here, the glowing cube) gives the viewer something to track through the abstract steps, and it can be reused in ads, decks and the website.
Watch out for: B2B explainers tend to name every feature. Pick one outcome for the buyer and cut the rest; a sales deck can carry the details.
6. Google Password Manager by Oddfellows: Best for security and privacy myth-busting
Platform: 2D animation, 1 min 58 s
Oddfellows made this as a myth-busting piece: most people think their passwords are stronger than they are, because they build them from common themes and patterns that are easy to remember and just as easy to guess. The video corrects the myth first, then introduces the product as the safer habit.
Leading with a misconception is a strong opening for any explainer about risk, because it hooks the viewer's own behaviour before it asks them to change it. Oddfellows had worked on Google's Advanced Protection Program before, so it builds on an established visual language.
Watch out for: Fear sells badly in security. Keep the tone light and end on what the viewer gains rather than what they could lose.
7. GoFundMe Explainer by Demo Duck: Best for how-it-works videos for marketplaces
Platform: 2D character animation, 1 min 42 s
Demo Duck explained the steps of starting and running a GoFundMe fundraiser while showing the range of people and causes it supports, from school supplies to medical debt. The style is fluid and colourful, with a diverse cast of characters, and it is narrated by two voiceover artists as a duet.
Two narrators make a step-by-step video feel like a conversation rather than a manual. It is a good model for any product where the steps are simple but the reasons people use it vary widely.
Watch out for: Step-by-step explainers age when the product flow changes. Animate the steps loosely enough that a UI tweak does not force a re-render.
8. GEICO Pet Insurance, Explained by Demo Duck: Best for insurance and financial products
Platform: 2D character animation, 69 seconds
Insurance is a hard sell in a video, so Demo Duck had fun with the character design and the trouble pets get into, then walked through how pet insurance protects your animal and your wallet after an accident or illness. The credits list a producer, creative lead, writer, illustrator and animators for a 69-second piece.
Characters with personality earn the right to explain something dry. Once the viewer is smiling at the dog, they will sit through how deductibles work.
Watch out for: Financial and insurance videos need compliance review. Build that time into the schedule, and keep claims general enough that legal can approve them quickly.
9. What is GitHub? by BUCK: Best for developer tools explained to non-developers
Platform: Animated explainer, 2 min 42 s
BUCK's explainer for GitHub answers the question in its title in two minutes and 42 seconds. It is one of the longer pieces in this list, and it earns the time because version control is genuinely hard to picture.
If your audience includes buyers, managers or students who are new to your category, a calm, longer explainer like this can sit on a "what is" page, while shorter cut-downs run in ads.
Watch out for: A long explainer needs chapters or clear beats. If you cannot summarise each 30-second section in a sentence, the script is not ready for animation.
10. What Is Dyslexia? by Art&Graft: Best for nonprofits changing how people see an issue
Platform: Mixed 2D and 3D character film
Made for the charity Made By Dyslexia and directed by Kyra Bartley at Art&Graft, the film follows Lola as she searches online for answers about dyslexia and finds descriptions that make her future seem smaller, until a guide shows her inventors, athletes and storytellers. Expressive brushwork and varied frame rates run over 3D character animation, with a voice cast that includes Jeremy Irons and Liv Tyler.
It is an explainer that changes the definition rather than repeating it. For awareness campaigns, that reframe is the whole point, and the craft level tells the audience the issue deserves attention.
Watch out for: This is a big production with an agency, a production company, a large animation team and star voices. For a small charity, the reframe is the part to copy; the budget is not.
11. Welcome to Square by Sandwich: Best for filmed explainers for hardware and payments
Platform: Production company film, 2 min 18 s
Sandwich is a Los Angeles production company that, in its own words, makes launch and explainer films for technology companies; Slack, Airbnb and Square are named on its homepage. Welcome to Square (2012) is one of the most watched films on its Vimeo. The same account holds Coin's "One Card", which, as Sandwich notes, drove a 2013 crowdfunding campaign to millions of dollars in preorders and more than 10 million YouTube views, and a 30-second "What it is" spot for Rakuten.
Filmed products answer the trust question that animation cannot: does this thing actually exist and work? Pick a filmed explainer for hardware, payments and anything people will hold.
Watch out for: Live action is harder to update than animation. When the product or pricing changes, you reshoot; keep claims that may change out of the script.
12. Asana "Timeline" by Oddfellows: Best for explaining one new feature to existing users
Platform: Cel and 2D animation, 53 seconds
"Projects were never meant to be planned in spreadsheets" is the opening idea of this 53-second piece for Asana's Timeline feature. Oddfellows directed it with creative direction by Chris Kelly and art direction by Jay Quercia, with a full cel animation team in the credits alongside the designers.
A feature explainer can skip the "what is our company" part entirely and go straight to the pain the feature solves. Under a minute is enough when the audience already knows the product.
Watch out for: Feature videos have a short shelf life. Plan for a cut-down without the UI so the story can outlive the screens.
13. Our How It Works Explainer (Studio): Best for three-step explainers for a SaaS landing page
Platform: Motions Animation Studio, prompt is CC0 Ours
A sales-tax app explained in three numbered steps on pale sage: a persimmon line draws from badge to badge, each step plays its own small UI vignette (connect a store, tax an order, file a return), and the line ends at a sign-up button. Three steps is enough for a beginning, middle and end, and few enough to remember.
The prompt is free to copy. In the Animation Studio you can describe your own three steps, swap in your UI, scrub the timeline and export MP4 or HTML for your homepage.
Watch out for: A 10-second loop is a hero animation, not a full explainer. Pair it with a voiceover or captions if it has to stand alone.
14. Our Hand-Drawn Whiteboard Explainer (Studio): Best for problem, product, result in one drawing
Platform: Motions Animation Studio, prompt is CC0 Ours
A marker draws a three-part story in live line work: the problem in red (a person buried in invoices), the product in blue (a laptop that reads them) and the result in green, joined by arrows and closed with the maths. It is the RSA Animate idea compressed into a few seconds.
Because it is built as code, the drawing, colours and captions are all editable. Use it as the opening of a longer video or as a looping explainer on a pricing page.
Watch out for: Whiteboard style reads as low budget if the drawings are generic. Draw your own product and your own customer's problem.
How to choose an explainer format
Decide the length first, then the format, then the style.
Match the length to the job
30 seconds is for one idea in an ad or on social (Sandwich's Rakuten spot). 60 to 90 seconds is the homepage sweet spot (Slack, Amperity, GEICO, TED Countdown). Two minutes and up is for a "what is" page or a hard concept (Dropbox, What is GitHub?). Over ten minutes only works with a strong talk underneath (RSA Animate). Write the script, read it aloud at a normal pace, and you have your length.
Match the format to what you are selling
Physical or financial products earn trust on camera (Square, Coin). Invisible software needs a metaphor or a hero object (Slack's balls, Amperity's cube). Marketplaces and services need people, which usually means character animation (GoFundMe, Airbnb-style flat illustration). Single features can go straight to the interface (Asana Timeline).
Match the style to how often it changes
If your product changes every month, keep the UI out of the main explainer or make it easy to swap. Character animation and metaphors last for years; screen recordings last until the next redesign. Code-built pieces, like our Studio scenes, sit in the middle: the UI is a parameter, so an update is an edit and a re-render.
Write the script tonight
Every explainer above starts with one sentence: the problem, the turn, the result. Write yours, read it aloud, and time it. If it runs over 90 seconds, cut features, not the story.
Then storyboard three to five frames. If you want to see it move before you brief a studio, describe it in the Studio: Claude draws the scenes, choreographs the motion and checks every frame, and you can export MP4 or HTML. For more references, browse the inspiration board.
Make a 30-second explainer for [product] in three scenes: the problem, the product as the turn, the result. Flat illustration on [background colour], one accent colour [hex], one typeface [font], captions under 8 words per scene. Each scene enters with a 0.5s ease-out and holds for at least 6 seconds; join scenes with a match cut on a shared shape. End on the logo and URL, held for 2 seconds. If the viewer prefers reduced motion, cross-fade between the three key frames.
Common questions
How long should an explainer video be?
As long as the idea needs and no longer. For a homepage, 60 to 90 seconds covers most products; for ads and social, 15 to 30 seconds and one idea. Longer pieces, two minutes and up, work on dedicated "what is" pages or for genuinely hard concepts.
What is a 30-second explainer video?
A short explainer that makes one point: the problem and how the product solves it, usually ending on the logo and a URL. It works best as an ad, a social post or the hero of a landing page, and it often comes as a cut-down of a longer explainer.
What makes a good explainer video?
A single clear story (problem, turn, result), a script written before any visuals, one metaphor or hero object the viewer can follow, a voice or captions people can understand with the sound off, and an ending that tells them what to do next.
What are the main types of explainer videos?
Character animation (GoFundMe, GEICO), motion graphics and metaphor (Slack, Amperity), whiteboard (RSA Animate), paper cut-out (Dropbox), filmed product videos (Square, Coin) and screen-based feature videos (Asana Timeline).
Can I make an explainer video with AI?
You can make short animated explainers with AI tools today, especially shape, type and diagram styles. Write the script yourself, keep the product shots real, and review every frame. Our Studio builds scenes as code you can edit and export, which suits short explainers and hero loops.