diff --git a/src/transformers/processing_utils.py b/src/transformers/processing_utils.py
index c7b0ab247abb..fa536117c13c 100644
--- a/src/transformers/processing_utils.py
+++ b/src/transformers/processing_utils.py
@@ -1637,8 +1637,8 @@ def apply_chat_template(
             ):
                 kwargs["do_sample_frames"] = True
 
-            images_exist = any(len(im) > 0 for im_list in batch_images for im in im_list)
-            videos_exist = any(len(vid) > 0 for vid_list in batch_videos for vid in vid_list)
+            images_exist = any((im is not None) for im_list in batch_images for im in im_list)
+            videos_exist = any((vid is not None) for vid_list in batch_videos for vid in vid_list)
             out = self(
                 text=prompt,
                 images=batch_images if images_exist else None,