Elevate Your Channel Game - TubeBuddy Insights

The Benefits of TubeBuddy | Manage Your YouTube Channel More Easily

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

TubeBuddy is a YouTube certified extension for your Google Chrome browser. When you visit YouTube after installing TubeBuddy a whole new set of useful tools becomes available.

TubeBuddy’s tools were designed to save you time and effort when performing some of the more mundane tasks involved in running a YouTube channel, like adding cards. Many of TubeBuddy’s tools are completely free to use, but others might require a paid license. There are three levels of licensing: $9, $19, or $39 per month.

The Benefits of Using TubeBuddy for YouTube

1. Increased Productivity
2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More
3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags
4. Useful Data

Benefits of TubeBuddy

YouTubers who use TubeBuddy are able to spend less time on busy-work and more time on coming up with creative video ideas. Here are some of the ways TubeBuddy can help you, especially if you have a large or mid-sized channel:

1. Increased Productivity

Most of TubeBuddy’s Productivity Tools are available for free, but some require a $9 per month Pro license.

You can use these tools to get your videos ready for posting faster, embed them off-YouTube more easily, and save time by creating canned responses or templates for cards and annotations.

For example, you might find yourself creating the same YouTube Card over and over again to include it in every video you make. Creating a template through TubeBuddy will save you this effort.

Another great productivity tool is the Video Topic Planner. You can save video ideas you come up with, or ideas viewers have suggested to you, and arrange them in a queue so you never forget what you are planning to make next.

2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More

Most of TubeBuddy’s bulk processing tools require a $19 per month Star license.

Two of the most time-saving tools in this section are the Bulk Copy tools for cards and annotations. They will save you from having to recreate the same ones over and over. Then, using the Bulk Update tools, you will be able to make changes to all of your cards or annotations at once.

For example: if you use a YouTube Card to link to your personal website and include it in every video, and then you change your website, you change the link in all of your existing cards at once.

Another useful Bulk tool is Bulk Thumbnail Overlays, which will allow you to add a logo to all of your existing video thumbnails at once.

3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags

The SEO Tools in TubeBuddy will help you find the best tags for your videos and suggest tags you might want to target. Many of these tools are free, but others require a $19 Star license.

One of the best free tools in this category is View and Copy Video Tags. It allows you to see and copy the tags of other people’s videos. You will be able to see which keywords your competitors are targeting (and look for opportunities to target them more effectively). This can also save you a lot of time writing out tags that should really be the same as the ones on an existing video.

4. Useful Data

The most useful piece of data under Data and Research Tools is the Best Time to Publish. How many views you get on a video could vary greatly depending on when you post, and the best times to post vary depending on the demographics of your audience. This free tool from TubeBuddy will show you when you should be uploading.

Another interesting tool, which is unfortunately only available with $39 licenses, is the Competitor Scoreboard. It allows creators to compare their channels stats to those of their rival channels.

Have you ever tried TubeBuddy for YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

TubeBuddy is a YouTube certified extension for your Google Chrome browser. When you visit YouTube after installing TubeBuddy a whole new set of useful tools becomes available.

TubeBuddy’s tools were designed to save you time and effort when performing some of the more mundane tasks involved in running a YouTube channel, like adding cards. Many of TubeBuddy’s tools are completely free to use, but others might require a paid license. There are three levels of licensing: $9, $19, or $39 per month.

The Benefits of Using TubeBuddy for YouTube

1. Increased Productivity
2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More
3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags
4. Useful Data

Benefits of TubeBuddy

YouTubers who use TubeBuddy are able to spend less time on busy-work and more time on coming up with creative video ideas. Here are some of the ways TubeBuddy can help you, especially if you have a large or mid-sized channel:

1. Increased Productivity

Most of TubeBuddy’s Productivity Tools are available for free, but some require a $9 per month Pro license.

You can use these tools to get your videos ready for posting faster, embed them off-YouTube more easily, and save time by creating canned responses or templates for cards and annotations.

For example, you might find yourself creating the same YouTube Card over and over again to include it in every video you make. Creating a template through TubeBuddy will save you this effort.

Another great productivity tool is the Video Topic Planner. You can save video ideas you come up with, or ideas viewers have suggested to you, and arrange them in a queue so you never forget what you are planning to make next.

2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More

Most of TubeBuddy’s bulk processing tools require a $19 per month Star license.

Two of the most time-saving tools in this section are the Bulk Copy tools for cards and annotations. They will save you from having to recreate the same ones over and over. Then, using the Bulk Update tools, you will be able to make changes to all of your cards or annotations at once.

For example: if you use a YouTube Card to link to your personal website and include it in every video, and then you change your website, you change the link in all of your existing cards at once.

Another useful Bulk tool is Bulk Thumbnail Overlays, which will allow you to add a logo to all of your existing video thumbnails at once.

3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags

The SEO Tools in TubeBuddy will help you find the best tags for your videos and suggest tags you might want to target. Many of these tools are free, but others require a $19 Star license.

One of the best free tools in this category is View and Copy Video Tags. It allows you to see and copy the tags of other people’s videos. You will be able to see which keywords your competitors are targeting (and look for opportunities to target them more effectively). This can also save you a lot of time writing out tags that should really be the same as the ones on an existing video.

4. Useful Data

The most useful piece of data under Data and Research Tools is the Best Time to Publish. How many views you get on a video could vary greatly depending on when you post, and the best times to post vary depending on the demographics of your audience. This free tool from TubeBuddy will show you when you should be uploading.

Another interesting tool, which is unfortunately only available with $39 licenses, is the Competitor Scoreboard. It allows creators to compare their channels stats to those of their rival channels.

Have you ever tried TubeBuddy for YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

TubeBuddy is a YouTube certified extension for your Google Chrome browser. When you visit YouTube after installing TubeBuddy a whole new set of useful tools becomes available.

TubeBuddy’s tools were designed to save you time and effort when performing some of the more mundane tasks involved in running a YouTube channel, like adding cards. Many of TubeBuddy’s tools are completely free to use, but others might require a paid license. There are three levels of licensing: $9, $19, or $39 per month.

The Benefits of Using TubeBuddy for YouTube

1. Increased Productivity
2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More
3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags
4. Useful Data

Benefits of TubeBuddy

YouTubers who use TubeBuddy are able to spend less time on busy-work and more time on coming up with creative video ideas. Here are some of the ways TubeBuddy can help you, especially if you have a large or mid-sized channel:

1. Increased Productivity

Most of TubeBuddy’s Productivity Tools are available for free, but some require a $9 per month Pro license.

You can use these tools to get your videos ready for posting faster, embed them off-YouTube more easily, and save time by creating canned responses or templates for cards and annotations.

For example, you might find yourself creating the same YouTube Card over and over again to include it in every video you make. Creating a template through TubeBuddy will save you this effort.

Another great productivity tool is the Video Topic Planner. You can save video ideas you come up with, or ideas viewers have suggested to you, and arrange them in a queue so you never forget what you are planning to make next.

2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More

Most of TubeBuddy’s bulk processing tools require a $19 per month Star license.

Two of the most time-saving tools in this section are the Bulk Copy tools for cards and annotations. They will save you from having to recreate the same ones over and over. Then, using the Bulk Update tools, you will be able to make changes to all of your cards or annotations at once.

For example: if you use a YouTube Card to link to your personal website and include it in every video, and then you change your website, you change the link in all of your existing cards at once.

Another useful Bulk tool is Bulk Thumbnail Overlays, which will allow you to add a logo to all of your existing video thumbnails at once.

3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags

The SEO Tools in TubeBuddy will help you find the best tags for your videos and suggest tags you might want to target. Many of these tools are free, but others require a $19 Star license.

One of the best free tools in this category is View and Copy Video Tags. It allows you to see and copy the tags of other people’s videos. You will be able to see which keywords your competitors are targeting (and look for opportunities to target them more effectively). This can also save you a lot of time writing out tags that should really be the same as the ones on an existing video.

4. Useful Data

The most useful piece of data under Data and Research Tools is the Best Time to Publish. How many views you get on a video could vary greatly depending on when you post, and the best times to post vary depending on the demographics of your audience. This free tool from TubeBuddy will show you when you should be uploading.

Another interesting tool, which is unfortunately only available with $39 licenses, is the Competitor Scoreboard. It allows creators to compare their channels stats to those of their rival channels.

Have you ever tried TubeBuddy for YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

TubeBuddy is a YouTube certified extension for your Google Chrome browser. When you visit YouTube after installing TubeBuddy a whole new set of useful tools becomes available.

TubeBuddy’s tools were designed to save you time and effort when performing some of the more mundane tasks involved in running a YouTube channel, like adding cards. Many of TubeBuddy’s tools are completely free to use, but others might require a paid license. There are three levels of licensing: $9, $19, or $39 per month.

The Benefits of Using TubeBuddy for YouTube

1. Increased Productivity
2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More
3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags
4. Useful Data

Benefits of TubeBuddy

YouTubers who use TubeBuddy are able to spend less time on busy-work and more time on coming up with creative video ideas. Here are some of the ways TubeBuddy can help you, especially if you have a large or mid-sized channel:

1. Increased Productivity

Most of TubeBuddy’s Productivity Tools are available for free, but some require a $9 per month Pro license.

You can use these tools to get your videos ready for posting faster, embed them off-YouTube more easily, and save time by creating canned responses or templates for cards and annotations.

For example, you might find yourself creating the same YouTube Card over and over again to include it in every video you make. Creating a template through TubeBuddy will save you this effort.

Another great productivity tool is the Video Topic Planner. You can save video ideas you come up with, or ideas viewers have suggested to you, and arrange them in a queue so you never forget what you are planning to make next.

2. Bulk Tools for Annotations, Cards, Thumbnails and More

Most of TubeBuddy’s bulk processing tools require a $19 per month Star license.

Two of the most time-saving tools in this section are the Bulk Copy tools for cards and annotations. They will save you from having to recreate the same ones over and over. Then, using the Bulk Update tools, you will be able to make changes to all of your cards or annotations at once.

For example: if you use a YouTube Card to link to your personal website and include it in every video, and then you change your website, you change the link in all of your existing cards at once.

Another useful Bulk tool is Bulk Thumbnail Overlays, which will allow you to add a logo to all of your existing video thumbnails at once.

3. Quick Optimization for Your Video’s Tags

The SEO Tools in TubeBuddy will help you find the best tags for your videos and suggest tags you might want to target. Many of these tools are free, but others require a $19 Star license.

One of the best free tools in this category is View and Copy Video Tags. It allows you to see and copy the tags of other people’s videos. You will be able to see which keywords your competitors are targeting (and look for opportunities to target them more effectively). This can also save you a lot of time writing out tags that should really be the same as the ones on an existing video.

4. Useful Data

The most useful piece of data under Data and Research Tools is the Best Time to Publish. How many views you get on a video could vary greatly depending on when you post, and the best times to post vary depending on the demographics of your audience. This free tool from TubeBuddy will show you when you should be uploading.

Another interesting tool, which is unfortunately only available with $39 licenses, is the Competitor Scoreboard. It allows creators to compare their channels stats to those of their rival channels.

Have you ever tried TubeBuddy for YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

The Ultimate Guide to Viewer Engagement and Loyalty: 6 Proven Strategies for YouTube Success

6 Ways To Increase Audience Retention on YouTube

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

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• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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