YouTube – The Importance of Watch Time

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YouTube – The Importance of Watch Time

Simply put, watch time is the total amount of time spent watching a video on YouTube. 

Why Is Watch Time Important? 

YouTube places a great deal of importance on watch time as their main objective is to keep viewers on their platform.   

Watch time is the most important metric on YouTube. It influences YouTube’s algorithm, driving recommendation and discovery, while ranking results to guide viewers on what to watch next. Increased watch time signals higher engagement to the algorithm which will benefit a video’s position in recommendation and discovery. 

Tips to Improve Watch Time 

  • Be consistent in your upload schedule. 
  • Ensure video titles and thumbnails accurately represent videos. 
  • Create content for your audience that they will keep watching but try not to make videos longer than they need to be.  
  • Pay attention to your audience retention. Are viewers watching to the end of your videos or for only the first 30 seconds? Use audience retention stats to guide content you are creating to upload to your channel 
  • If your channel has multiple unrelated content series, consider starting new channels so that each channel has a clearly defined audience. 
  • Keep track of watch time on your videos by checking your channel’s analytics in YouTube Studio. 

 

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