In the latest YouTube Creator Insider video, developers from the company broke down important key metrics. Those include click-through rate and average view duration.
These metrics were added into YouTube’s update last month. When both metrics are examined together, creators can determine why a video is underperforming. They are tools that help creators pinpoint what is and isn’t working on their videos. So, for example, if the click-through rate is low, but the watch time is high, then that might mean the thumbnail isn’t eye-catching.
YouTube creators are running into issues with the metrics
Though these metrics are very helpful for many creators, some creators have experienced seemingly unbalanced stats for their videos. For instance, there are creators calculating that some of their videos are underperforming, however, YouTube’s metrics claim the video is doing great.
“This is the most common question I receive from creators,” YouTube developer Rachel said in the video. “Click-through rate and average view duration are one of dozens of signals that we will use for search and discovery, but there are also a lot of other factors that are gonna influence how many impressions your videos get and how many people watch them.”
According to YouTube, those creators that experience this scenario should pay attention to three factors: competition, topic, and seasonality. Other creators could be taking away a lot of the views from a video in question. Additionally, depending on the topic you choose will determine the popularity of the video. Lastly, YouTube always goes through ups and downs in viewership depending on the time of year it is.
Creators want to compare their videos to the competition
Creators are looking for more transparency concerning their videos’ performance. To do this, they want to be able to compare their stats with their competitors. Interestingly, the YouTube analytics team is looking into ways to compare click-through rates and average video duration not with yourself and your past videos, but with other channels similar to yours,” according to the video. “This is actually something that we’re looking into and hopefully will have more to share in another sneak peek coming soon.”
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