View Time Average

Quirkypoo

Quirkypoo

Well-Known Member
Hey There,

I've been looking through my analytics and I've noticed that my average is well lower than my actual video lengths. I'm trying to keep my video times lower now because I feel like the length of the videos is probably putting people off. Apart from that is there anyway of keeping people interested in the videos so that they watch for longer?

Any advice is appreciated!

Quirky Poo
 
First of all I will advise you not to worry about the length of your videos, Instead, concentrate on providing value and that will determine the length of the video.

On how to keep your videos engaging you can use
Jump cuts
Transitions
Filters
Graphics, sound effect...

When properly put together, you will have a high quality video that is engaging and provides value...hope that helps.
 
As long as you give someone a reason to keep watching they'll sit through the whole video. Kind of like when you put a bad movie on and after the first quarter of it your getting bored and the story line sucks, or the actors are horrible. I know I'm not going to waste another hour plus watching it I'm just going to turn it off. The same concept goes for YouTube. Though you probably aren't making 2 1/2 hour videos. You need to give the viewer a reason to sit through that 3+ minute video without wanting to click away.
 
It's fairly normal for it to be well shorter than the actual video length. Most channels do not have 70,80,90 percent audience retention, and they honestly don't need to. I'm normally in the 30-60% range depending on length. If you make really short videos it's a lot easier to have high audience retention, but that doesn't mean your videos will do well. I used to do 2-7 minute videos on my channel but every time I increased the length my watch minutes increased. The last move I went from 8-12 minutes to 15-25 minutes in length and my more popular short videos get less or similar watch minutes to my semipopular long videos. I would experiment with different lengths and ideas and then look at the analytics and see what you think was successful. If retention was the most important factor on YouTube everyone would make short videos and instead we see variety so I don't think the length is a magic formula for success.

What the video is about and what you do in the video definitely plays a factor. A more interesting video idea that is relevant or exactly what someone searched for will probably help to improve things.
 
Very interesting stuff! Thanks everyone for the replies, think I've come to realise that the retention rate is probably the thing that I shouldn't be worrying about. Still getting used to what to look for and what not to look for.

But I'll definitely be taking all your opinions into account when I'm making videos! :)

QP
 
GBeeTV said:
This is very soliod advice, I always rewatch my video 2-3 times and when I'm not happy with something I change it. My avg view duration went up from 5.33 to 7.22
Click to expand...

Good thinking! I normally watch over mine at least once fo show.
 
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