Audience retention tips?

Krisfire

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Okay so to TLDR everything, my audience retention is around 1 minute, i'd really like to get it to 5 minutes, which is a far ways off. I really don't know where to start with this so what are some things you've implemented that helped you, any tips for me?
 

UhoohExtra

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I looked at your last 2 uploads and you seem to br getting everything right. I was expecting you to have a viewer repellent intro but no. You present a hook at the beginning (what the video is about) and you deliver what the title promised. You also "gave 5 tips for.." in your narrative which is great to encourage them to watch the entire video to get all 5 facts. Good quality audio/video. I did find .. or not find, a few gems you're not exploiting though which will help you:

1. Get the hella out of the middle of the frame. Google 'The rule of thirds'.
2. Expect your viewer to have the attention span of gnat. Then you can exploit this. Randomly bounce to/from about 120% zoom.. and /or move frame a tad. This is for the parts where it's just your face. That preserves their 'spaced out keep watching -i can't think for myself' frame of mind and keeps em glued.
3. Keep face in shot on your B roll footage !! a rookie error!. When your B rolls plays have your face in a cutaway top right or top left. This is well proven to work. Ads continuity.
4. Ditch the outro's. The last 20-30 seconds is obvious you're winding down. People won't stay for that often. Watch some bigger Youtubers and you'll notice they end the video very abruptly and you never saw it coming! Your 20 seconds of dead video could make the difference of an extra 1% or more greater watch time retention which may have been all you needed to trigger the algorithm in your favour and propel you higher than competing videos. And all of above may give you a surprising amount more watch time %.
Good lucj buddie.. hope some of that was helpful.
 

Ivana Kinsley

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I looked at your last 2 uploads and you seem to br getting everything right. I was expecting you to have a viewer repellent intro but no. You present a hook at the beginning (what the video is about) and you deliver what the title promised. You also "gave 5 tips for.." in your narrative which is great to encourage them to watch the entire video to get all 5 facts. Good quality audio/video. I did find .. or not find, a few gems you're not exploiting though which will help you:

1. Get the hella out of the middle of the frame. Google 'The rule of thirds'.
2. Expect your viewer to have the attention span of gnat. Then you can exploit this. Randomly bounce to/from about 120% zoom.. and /or move frame a tad. This is for the parts where it's just your face. That preserves their 'spaced out keep watching -i can't think for myself' frame of mind and keeps em glued.
3. Keep face in shot on your B roll footage !! a rookie error!. When your B rolls plays have your face in a cutaway top right or top left. This is well proven to work. Ads continuity.
4. Ditch the outro's. The last 20-30 seconds is obvious you're winding down. People won't stay for that often. Watch some bigger Youtubers and you'll notice they end the video very abruptly and you never saw it coming! Your 20 seconds of dead video could make the difference of an extra 1% or more greater watch time retention which may have been all you needed to trigger the algorithm in your favour and propel you higher than competing videos. And all of above may give you a surprising amount more watch time %.
Good lucj buddie.. hope some of that was helpful.
Thanks for share your experience with us.
 
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Krisfire

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I looked at your last 2 uploads and you seem to br getting everything right. I was expecting you to have a viewer repellent intro but no. You present a hook at the beginning (what the video is about) and you deliver what the title promised. You also "gave 5 tips for.." in your narrative which is great to encourage them to watch the entire video to get all 5 facts. Good quality audio/video. I did find .. or not find, a few gems you're not exploiting though which will help you:

1. Get the hella out of the middle of the frame. Google 'The rule of thirds'.
2. Expect your viewer to have the attention span of gnat. Then you can exploit this. Randomly bounce to/from about 120% zoom.. and /or move frame a tad. This is for the parts where it's just your face. That preserves their 'spaced out keep watching -i can't think for myself' frame of mind and keeps em glued.
3. Keep face in shot on your B roll footage !! a rookie error!. When your B rolls plays have your face in a cutaway top right or top left. This is well proven to work. Ads continuity.
4. Ditch the outro's. The last 20-30 seconds is obvious you're winding down. People won't stay for that often. Watch some bigger Youtubers and you'll notice they end the video very abruptly and you never saw it coming! Your 20 seconds of dead video could make the difference of an extra 1% or more greater watch time retention which may have been all you needed to trigger the algorithm in your favour and propel you higher than competing videos. And all of above may give you a surprising amount more watch time %.
Good lucj buddie.. hope some of that was helpful.
Damn man thanks! I can’t believe I haven’t though of the rule of thirds, I do this stuff for a job and I didn’t think of that lol.

Really do appreciate the tips. I’m used to the more “traditional” editing, not YouTube editing as much lol. I’ve heard conflicting things on outtros, maybe it’s time for me to experiment for myself [emoji12]
 

Crown

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Moved to the strategy / technique forum. :)

I'd recommend not going overboard with promotion on 3rd party websites (reddit etc) - Views from promotion tend to have a low audience retention compared to organic views (from search etc)

So my advice would be less promotion, more SEO. :)
 

Krisfire

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Moved to the strategy / technique forum. :)

I'd recommend not going overboard with promotion on 3rd party websites (reddit etc) - Views from promotion tend to have a low audience retention compared to organic views (from search etc)

So my advice would be less promotion, more SEO. :)
Thanks! Wrong area lol.

Honestly I don’t promo outside off youtube. Most my traffic comes from search and recommended(thanks niche audience!) which is one reason I’m trying to find ways to keep people engaged. Believe me, I got burned too much on reddit before [emoji23]... but that got me hooked on the platform so I can’t say it was all bad lol.
 
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Dutchie Abroad

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3. Keep face in shot on your B roll footage !! a rookie error!. When your B rolls plays have your face in a cutaway top right or top left. This is well proven to work. Ads continuity.
This is actually a pretty good idea! Actually, all your tips are really good, thanks man!
 
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