Does a channel trailer/featured video count toward retention/views?

[Uncivilized Elk]

So I personally do not have a channel trailer and opted out of having a video auto-play on my channel for non-subscribers.

However, I'm just curious, do views and watch time from somebody going to your channel get counted for that video?

Because typically whenever a video automatically starts playing on somebody's channel I either pause it or immediately go to their videos tab. That means these videos only get 5 - 10 seconds at most from me, and I assume I'm not alone in my response to featured videos/trailers.

So just asking because the thought intrigued me; does having one of your videos as a featured video actually dunk its retention somewhat?

 

[Sabrina]

Hm, as far as I know it's a video like any other and gets counted as such. So I wouldn't set any of your regular videos as a channel trailer in case the retention suffers. But if you make a video specifically for this purpose, it wouldn't hurt much, would it? In fact, if you keep it short, as a trailer should be, the retention may not be that bad after all.

My statistics may not say much because my channel is small, but my trailer has 300 views, is 45 seconds long and has a retention of 84%.

 

[wasabiroots]

So I wouldn't set any of your regular videos as a channel trailer in case the retention suffers.

Same idea that I have. That's why I don't understand why some people would put a regular video there. I don't think anyone would want to watch a 1 minute+ video from a trailer.. and some people even put their >30 minute videos there. :S Sure it gets views but hmmm...

However, I'm just curious, do views and watch time from somebody going to your channel get counted for that video?

Yes. Why wouldn't it? You could see the statistic from your analytics at the "playback location" then click on "youtube channel page"

That's what I get from lifetime. That "unknown" there I think came from that one time I used advertising for a particular video. Probably auto played on some person's channel trailer haha~ [my trailer is only 26 seconds long so, I think the trailer is doing good]

 

[Ninja]

Yep! It's counts just as much as any other videos you've uploaded.

 

[Shehzad]

Yes it does count as a view but YouTube also records the watch time of videos so they can calculate that persons revenue with CPM a lot better so retention can be lower if most people don't watch the full trailer.

 

[Christiney92]

The views count, although like you when I get onto a channel I usually pause the trailer unless it's my first visit or I haven't seen it before... the retention might be low but a view is a view lol