Some of us who oversee a YouTube channel for our business can get rather obsessive with the visitor analytics provided (guilty, m’lud!), but not everyone checks in that frequently. Indeed, some people can get a rather pleasant surprise when they see the numbers they haven’t investigated for some time.
Sign into YouTube and head to ‘YouTube Studio’. There’s the normal ‘dashboard’ stuff which software developers think is helpful but few of us ever look at much. The main place to head for is the ‘Analytics’ tab on the left (just a bar chart icon on smaller screens). This offers visitor data on all the videos, in total or individually.
Tabs at the top offer more information. ‘Overview’ shows total views, watch time, and subscribers. ‘Content’ offers views, impressions and clickthrough rates. ‘Audience’ looks at returning and unique viewers. ‘Research’ gets into search terms which lead viewers to the videos.
The good stuff
The most important metrics offered will vary from user to user. Many YouTube views come from videos being suggested to viewers, and the chances of our videos being included in these suggestions will be dependent on how likely YouTube reckons it is that they’ll get some serious viewing. Don’t forget, this very expensive business makes a profit by maximising watch time. Individual videos with great watch times and view durations are the ones we need to learn from.
Once a video has been chosen to appear in the list, how likely is it to be clicked on? For this, take a look at ‘Impressions Click-Through Rate’ under ‘Reach’. Compare different videos to see if there are lessons to be learned. And so on. YouTube’s video data can be fascinating. Enjoy!
For more ideas, try reading YouTube Analytics: Top 10 Metrics to Boost Your Reach in 2023 on Smart Blogger.