Advice about listing videos is usually written from opinion. This article is written from what agents actually did. Between August 20 and October 25 2026, real estate agents, agencies, photographers and owners sent 1,581 listings to Imoframe to turn into videos. We counted what they sent and what they chose, left our own test accounts out, and read the orientation of each photo from the files themselves.
Of the people who told us who they are, 76 % are agents, 9 % agencies, 8 % photographers and 7 % owners. So these numbers mostly describe working agents with a listing to market this week.
1. Eight photos is the typical listing
The median listing came with 8 photos. Half of all listings had between 6 and 10, a third had 5 or fewer, and only 17 % had more than 10.
- 1–5 photos: 32 %
- 6–10 photos: 51 %
- 11–20 photos: 13 %
- 21 or more: 4 %
That fits how a video works. At about 2.8 seconds per photo, 8 to 10 photos make a 25–30 second video, the length people watch to the end on Instagram and TikTok. If you have 30 photos, you don't need all of them: pick one per room, in the order you would walk a buyer through the home.
2. Most listing photos are horizontal — and social video is vertical
63 % of the listings we received were shot in landscape. That is what cameras and listing portals are built for. But Reels, TikTok and Stories are vertical, and that mismatch causes most of the disappointment we see.
Turning a horizontal photo into a vertical video means cropping the sides: a wide living room becomes the sofa and the window. That can look great, but it is a choice, not a default. Choose the format by where the video will be watched:
- Vertical (9:16) for Instagram, TikTok, Stories and WhatsApp status
- Horizontal (16:9) for listing portals, YouTube and your website
- Shot in landscape but posting on Reels? Keep the important part of each room near the centre of the photo
Since October 2026, Imoframe asks for the format before you pay and shows your own photo in that frame, so you see what will be cropped.
3. Agents keep it real: 69 % use no colour filter
When given a choice of colour filters, 69 % of agents kept the original colours. Among those who picked one, the favourites were the subtle ones: Bright (28 %) and Warm (24 %), well ahead of Cinematic (13 %).
Buyers compare the video with the photos and, later, with the visit. A heavy look that makes the kitchen orange or the sky teal costs trust. If a photo is dark, brighten it; otherwise leave it alone.
4. The text that works is short
56 % of agents added listing details to their video. Of those, 88 % picked our most minimal style: the city in large letters, then rooms, size and price on one small line. Busier styles with bars and icons were picked by fewer than 1 in 8.
What to put on screen, in this order: city or neighbourhood, bedrooms, bathrooms, size, price. Leave the full description for the caption.
5. One in five writes in another language than English
79 % of the videos with text were in English. The other 21 % were mostly in Turkish, French, Portuguese, Spanish and German. Prices tell the same story: they were typed in US dollars (37 %), euros (29 %) and, third, UAE dirhams (11 %) — Dubai agents use listing videos a lot.
Write the words on the video in the language of your buyers, not of the software. "3 chambres" reads faster than "3 bed" for a buyer in Lyon.
6. The most skipped step: your own name
Only 31 % of agents added their name, phone or email, and only 15 % uploaded a logo. Yet a listing video travels: it gets forwarded on WhatsApp, reposted and saved, far from the listing page where your contact is.
- On social media and WhatsApp, add at least your name and phone
- On the MLS or a portal that forbids branding, use a version without contact
- A logo is optional; a readable phone number is not
7. Music: most agents let it be picked
77 % of agents left the music to us, and 23 % chose a track themselves. A calm, steady track that doesn't fight the voice of the listing is what most people expect; pick your own when the property has a strong personality.
8. Ready the same day
For paid videos with a delivery email on record, half were delivered within 11 minutes of payment. That makes it realistic to post a video the day the listing goes live, during the first week when it gets the most views.
How we counted
These figures come from the listings uploaded to Imoframe between August 20 and October 25 2026 (1,581 listings; the style, language and branding figures come from the 1,060 people who reached the customisation step). Our team's test accounts are excluded. Photo orientation was read from the image files. We will update this article as more listings come in.
