2023-11-03 12:49:28
We know that some metrics are more revealing than others. There are plenty of KPIs we can look at that provide minimal information. Therefore, we have created this guide to help you navigate YouTube Analytics and measure the most important metrics. It will prevent you from drowning in a sea of analysis.
Viewing time
View time is the total number of minutes viewers have spent watching your videos.
It’s a key metric because YouTube’s algorithm assumes that higher watch time indicates an engaging video, so it elevates videos and channels with higher watch times in the recommendations and search results section.
In the watch time report, you can see the amount of watch time your videos have accumulated.
You can also sort each of your videos by watch time and group them by topics, styles, and length to determine the most engaging types of videos.
How to find watch time in YouTube Studio: Analysis > Overview > Play Time
Average percentage viewed
The average percentage viewed is the percentage of each video that the viewer watched. Measure your video’s ability to hold viewers’ full attention.
And when YouTube realizes that your videos can capture people’s attention, they will reward you with higher search and recommendation rankings.
How to find the average percentage viewed in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Overview > View Time > See More > Content > View Time > More Metrics > Overview > Average Percent Viewed
Average viewing duration
Average watch duration is the total watch time of your video divided by the total number of video views, including replays. This metric measures your video’s ability to engage viewers.
If your video can’t attract viewers, they will quickly abandon it, leaving you with an unimpressive average view duration.
How to Find Average View Duration in YouTube Studio: Analytics > See more > View time > More metrics > Overview > Average view duration
Audience retention
Audience retention shows you the percentage of viewers who watch and leave your video at each moment in the video.
YouTube elevates videos with high audience retention in its search rankings and suggestions because these videos can effectively capture viewers’ attention.
Audience retention can also influence your future video strategy. The most interesting parts of your video could be your next best video topics.
And examining where there are sharp drops in engagement will tell you what might be boring your viewers, allowing you to remove those elements from current and future videos.
When you have enough data to generate the YouTube audience retention report, two graphs will appear: the absolute retention curve and the relative retention curve. The absolute retention curve shows you how your videos retain viewers.
And relative retention shows you how one of your videos is retaining viewers compared to all other YouTube videos of similar length.
How to find audience retention in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Engagement > Audience Retention
Repetitions
Replays are the number of times viewers rewatch certain parts of your video.
If a lot of people rewatch a specific part of your video, then they are probably interested in the topic your video covers at that moment.
You can find this data in the absolute audience retention graph. New views are usually indicated by rising curves on the chart.
How to find replays in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Engagement > Audience Retention > Absolute Audience Retention
Commitment
Comments, shares, likes, and dislikes provide marketers with a wealth of valuable qualitative data.
Comments can provide a clear picture of your video’s emotional effect on viewers.
Likes and dislikes can help you determine which video topics work best with your particular audience.
How to find engagement in YouTube Studio: Analysis > Interaction > Like (vs. Dislike) > See More
Impression click-through rate
Impression click-through rate measures your video’s ability to entice people to watch it after seeing it on their home page, recommendations section, or trending section.
A high click-through rate means that the title is catchy and that the topic of your video resonates with many relevant audiences on YouTube.
A common trend in impression click-through rates is that they usually increase immediately after you publish your video – your subscribers will see the video at the top of your homepage and will likely click on it.
But once your video spreads beyond your core audience, your click-through rate will decrease and then remain stable.
A high click-through rate is great, but if people exit right at the beginning of your video, the title or thumbnail could be misleading.
Preparing viewers for what’s to come is crucial because if the title or thumbnail is inaccurate, they will feel cheated and lose trust in your brand.
A low click-through rate but high engagement could mean that the video has a small but specific audience that is highly engaged with the content.
How to find engagement in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Reach > Impression Click Rate
Card Clicks
Cards are slide-out panels that encourage people to take a desired action during a video, such as watching another video, subscribing to a channel, or clicking to a different web page.
The click-through rates for each of your cards tell you what action your viewers prefer to take while watching your videos.
This can help you place the most attractive card in each of your videos, potentially increasing watch time, subscriber growth, or website traffic.
Analyzing card clicks can also help you discover the optimal timing, location, and duration of your future video cards.
How to find clicks on cards in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Reach > See more > Impressions by: Content > More metrics > Cards > Card clicks
Playlist participation
Playlists are a great way to organize your videos in a digestible way. It helps your viewers easily consume videos on their favorite topics and encourages them to continue watching, increasing your channel’s watch time.
You can discover your playlist engagement by analyzing two metrics in the YouTube Playlist Report: views per playlist start and average time spent in playlist.
Views per playlist start is the average number of video views your playlists collect, and average time in playlist is the average amount of time viewers watched the videos in your playlist.
If these two metrics are performing poorly, try starting your playlist with videos that have the highest retention rate.
How to Find Playlist Engagement in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Engagement > See more > Play time > More metrics > Playlists
Unique viewers
Unique viewers are the estimated number of people who watch your videos during a given period of time. This metric really helps you know the real size of your audience.
You can also use this metric to measure your subscribers’ engagement with your videos. If your unique viewers are less than your number of subscribers, then your subscribers aren’t watching as many videos as they should.
To increase subscriber activity, ask them to set up notifications for your new videos.
How to find unique playlist viewers in YouTube Studio: Analysis > Audience > Unique viewers
Views by unique viewers
Views per unique viewer is the number of times the average viewer views your video. This metric tells you if people don’t get tired of watching your video and continue watching it.
Video topics with a lot of views from unique viewers could also be the most popular content topics, and covering them more could generate more views, watch time, and subscribers.
How to find unique playlist viewers in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Audience > Unique visitors > See more > Average views per viewer
Who is watching your videos?
In the YouTube demographics report, you can see the different types of people who watch your videos, segmented by age, gender, and geography.
This data tells you who your most engaged audience is and who your target audience should really be. You can also take the opposite approach with this data.
If you’re not reaching the audience you want, try changing your video strategy and covering topics that appeal to them.
How to find demographic data in YouTube Studio: Analysis > Audience > Age and sex
Subscriber growth
Subscribers are your most loyal fans. They have made a public commitment to your brand, content and values.
Subscribers are also important because YouTube will send them notifications about your new videos and feature them on their home page, which will help generate more views.
Subscribers also watch twice as many videos as non-subscribers, so the more subscribers you have, the more watch time your videos will accumulate.
The YouTube Subscriber Report will show you which videos, locations, and time periods are gaining and losing subscribers. This data will tell you which video topics resonate with your subscribers and how to target new subscribers.
And by prioritizing your subscribers’ needs, you’ll create videos they crave, increase watch time, and improve your search rankings.
How to find subscribers in YouTube Studio: Analysis > Audience > Subscribers
Traffic sources
External referrals, such as social networks or pages that embed your videos, and YouTube referrals, such as search, recommended section, and home page, are traffic sources.
The Traffic Sources report shows you how viewers found your videos and which sources have the most views and watch time. You can use this data to better optimize your video promotion strategy.
How to find traffic sources in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Audience > Subscribers > See more > Traffic source
Keywords
In the YouTube Reach Report, located below the Traffic Sources Report, you can see the most popular queries that guide viewers to your videos.
If these queries are slightly different from the topic of your video, consider updating your video to fill these content gaps and add the keywords to your metadata.
If there is a big difference, consider making a new video on these popular queries.
How to find keywords in YouTube Studio: Analytics > Reach > YouTube Search Terms
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