Watch Time Vs. Views

[ApexTV]

Lately, I have attempted to begin focusing more on watch time rather than views. Sure, it is attractive ti have a video that has over 1 million views, however views themselves may not be the most accurate statistic for measuring your success.

After some research I found that back in 2012 YouTube changed its algorithm to favor the amount of time watched instead of the total views a video got.

Watch time is a key statistic to keep your attention on. It is common sense that to increase watch time and your "average watch time" you need to make longer videos, but making longer videos along will not necessarily increase your YouTube success. You need to also focus on your "audience retention" as this shows the average percentage of a video watch.

To increase both your average time watched and your audience retention, you need to both make longer videos, and make videos that are hard to look away from. This means creating entertaining videos that users want to see more of.

Hope this helps!

 

[TheSwedishTraveler]

I rather have 1000 views with awesome watch time, than 1 million views and low watch time!

 

[Maxemole]

Yep and sadly our attention spans are starting to get smaller as we run out of time to do things. Audience retention is something you really need to work for especially nowadays with as much content out there that there is.

 

[DiecastDynasty]

Eac

Yep and sadly our attention spans are starting to get smaller as we run out of time to do things. Audience retention is something you really need to work for especially nowadays with as much content out there that there is.[/QUOTE

Exactly. Ive realized that in order to keep higher retention I need to shorten my videos and keep the fun factor high.

I haven't exactly achieved that yet, but I'm working on it.

 

[ApexTV]

Yep and sadly our attention spans are starting to get smaller as we run out of time to do things. Audience retention is something you really need to work for especially nowadays with as much content out there that there is.

True, audience retention is especially important and should be given some thought. To simplify things, just make the best and most engaging content that you can!

 

[xiplays]

Yep and sadly our attention spans are starting to get smaller as we run out of time to do things. Audience retention is something you really need to work for especially nowadays with as much content out there that there is.

Kids have long attention spans if it's something they're interested in. I know who I'll be targeting now! haha

 

[Maxemole]

Kids have long attention spans if it's something they're interested in. I know who I'll be targeting now! haha

True! Kids have a lot of free time to watch our stuff too.

 

[xiplays]

What I love is that I've been surrounded by kids my whole life. Young cousins, now nephews and nieces, so I'm always asking them what they're into and what they like and it really helps when planning content for now and the future.

 

[ApexTV]

What I love is that I've been surrounded by kids my whole life. Young cousins, now nephews and nieces, so I'm always asking them what they're into and what they like and it really helps when planning content for now and the future.

You can also conduct studies by showing kids your videos and seeing which ones they enjoy the most!

 

[Winger94]

Yeah back in 2012 you just needed to lure people to your videos and gathering views, now everything is different. It's a conundrum: on one side longer videos can lead to a much longer watch time compared to shorter ones, but it's also true that shorter videos have much more chances to lead to a longer audience retention. It's a matter of creating the best content possible, but always being yourself and not faking anything (nor using too many special effects!).