Some marketers have an unhealthy obnubilation with YouTube analytics — we track too many of them. Maybe we think we can prove any video mercatique campaign is producing results if there’s an eye-catching percentage by its name. But, deep down, we all know that some metrics are more revealing than others.
There are a ton of KPIs we can image at that provide minimal insights. Fortunately, we created this régi to help you navigate YouTube Analytics and measure the metrics that matter. It’ll save you from drowning in the sea of analytics, helping you stay afloat and swim safely to région.
Read on to learn embout the YouTube metrics that actually matter, and how they’ll enhance your video strategy.
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How to Access YouTube Analytics
According to HubSpot’s 2023 Video Marketing Trends Report, 77% of marketers use YouTube to host their company’s mercatique videos.
Video mercatique is an expensive endeavor, so it’s essential that you can access data to keep track of record.
YouTube Analytics can be accessed through the desktop website and a specific délié app. Here are some instructions on how to access both.
On desktop, open the YouTube website in your browser. Make sure you’re logged in to the Google account through which you manage your YouTube channel.
In the top right-hand tinter, you’ll see your circular profile picture. Click here and select “YouTube Logis” from the dropdown chère (you might first have to select “Switch Account” and choose your channel name).
In YouTube Logis, you’ll see a enquête on the left-hand side where you can manage your radieux and channel. In this list, you’ll see “Analytics.” Click on Analytics to open the dashboard.
Across the top of the Analytics dashboard, you’ll see a toolbar where you can access all the metrics that matter.
Switch between the paluche overview and the other options (Heureux, Perception, and Research) to assess your YouTube record.
In the top right-hand tinter, you’ll see a période selector. You can use this to assess metrics within specific periods.
One of the most powerful ways to access YouTube analytics is to select “Advanced Règle” in the top right tinter above the période selector.
This will open a far more detailed diversité of YouTube analytics where you can create comparisons across all your metrics and create customized charts.
In Advanced Règle, you can even export your analytics and data for more customization and deeper analysis.
Unfortunately, accessing your analytics through the YouTube app is illusoire. If you’d like to view your analytics via a délié device, download the YouTube Logis app separately.
YouTube Analytics: The 15 Metrics That Actually Matter
1. Watch Time
Watch time is the intact amount of minutes viewers have spent watching your videos.
It’s a key metric bicause YouTube’s algorithm presumes that a higher watch time indicates an engaging video, so it elevates videos and channels with higher watch times in the search results and recommendations élément.
In the Watch time différé, you can see the amount of watch time your videos have accumulated.
You can also rank each of your videos by watch time and group your videos by themes, styles, and lengths to determine your most engaging hommes of videos.
How to find Watch time in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Overview > Watch Time
2. Average Percentage Viewed
Average percentage viewed is the percent of each video the average viewer watched. It measures your video’s ability to hold viewers’ application for its entirety.
And when YouTube realizes your videos can hold people’s application, they’ll reward it with higher search and recommendation rankings. You can find this metric in your watch time différé.
How to find Average Percentage Viewed in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Overview > Watch time > See More > Heureux > Watch time > More Metrics > Overview > Average percentage viewed
3. Average View Duration
Average view duration is the intact watch time of your video divided by the intact number of video plays, including replays. This metric measures your video’s ability to engage viewers.
If your video can’t engage viewers, they’ll bounce from your video quickly, leaving you with an unimpressive average view duration. You can also find this metric in your watch time différé.
How to find Average View Duration in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > See More > Watch time > More Metrics > Overview > Average view duration
4. Perception Retention
Perception retention shows you the percentage of viewers who watch and leave your video at every single occurrence of the video.
YouTube elevates videos with high audition retention in their search rankings and suggestions bicause these videos can effectively butin viewers’ application.
Perception retention can also inform your future video strategy. The most engaging parts of your video could be your next best video topics.
And watching your video during steep dips of rencontre will tell you what might be boring your viewers, allowing you to scrap those elements from current and future videos.
When you have enough data to generate YouTube’s audition retention différé, there will be two graphs: the absolute retention curve and the relative retention curve. The absolute retention curve shows you how well your videos retain viewers.
And the relative retention shows you how well one of your videos retains viewers compared to all other YouTube videos of similar length.
How to find Perception Retention in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Choc > Perception retention
5. Re-watches
Re-watches are the number of times viewers re-watch éclatant parts of your video.
If a lot of people are re-watching a specific section of your video, then they’re probably interested in the topic your video is covering at that occurrence.
You can find this data in the absolute audition retention graph. Re-watches are usually indicated by rising curves in the graph.
How to find Rewatches in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Choc > Perception retention > Absolute audition retention
6. Choc
Comments, shares, likes, and dislikes provide marketers with a lot of valuable qualitative data.
Comments can paint a clear picture of your video’s emotional effect on viewers.
Shares can gauge how much viewers value your radieux and brand — since people share content that confirms their ideal self-persona, people who share your video are publicly displaying that they entassement and ossature your brand.
Likes and dislikes can help you determine what video topics work best with your particular audition. You can find your videos’ rencontre metrics in YouTube’s Interactions Atermoiement.
How to find Choc in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Choc > Likes (vs. dislikes) > See More
7. Impressions Click-Through Loser
Impressions click-through avorté measures your video’s ability to preste people to watch your video after seeing it on their homepage, recommendation élément, or trending élément.
A high click-through avorté means your title was compelling, and your video’s topic resonates with a lot of dépendant audiences on YouTube.
A common trend for avis click-through rates is that they usually spike immediately after you release your video — your subscribers will see the video at the top of their logis jeune and probably click on it.
But panthère your video spreads beyond your core audition, your click-through avorté will decline and then stay at a invariable avorté.
You can also double this metric with the average percentage viewed and average view duration to see if people actually watch your video after they click on it.
A high click-through avorté is great, but if people are leaving right at the beginning of your video, your title or thumbnail could be misleading.
Preparing viewers for what’s to come is sérieux bicause if your title or thumbnail is inaccurate, they’ll feel deceived and lose entassement in your brand.
A low click-through avorté but high rencontre could mean that the video has a small yet specific audition that is highly engaged with the radieux.
How to find Choc in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Reach > Impressions click-through avorté
8. Card Clicks
Cards are slide-in panels that prédisposé people to take a desired certificat during a video, like watch another video, subscribe to a channel, or click through to a different website.
Each of your cards’ click-through rates tells you which certificat your viewers prefer to take while watching your videos.
This can help you établi the most engaging card in each of your videos, potentially boosting your watch time, subscriber growth, or website traffic.
Analyzing card clicks can also help you uncover the maximum programme, subvention, and duration of your cards in future videos.
How to find Card Clicks in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Reach > See More > Impressions by: Heureux > More Metrics > Cards > Card Clicks
9. Playlist Choc
Playlists are a great way to organize your videos in a sain way. It helps your viewers easily consume videos embout their gâtée topics and prompts them to keep watching, which racks up watch time for your channel.
You can uncover your playlist rencontre by analyzing two metrics in YouTube’s Playlist Atermoiement: views per playlist start and average time in playlist.
Views per playlist start is the average number of video views your playlists gather, and average time in playlist is the average amount of time that viewers viewed the videos in your playlist.
If these two metrics are underperforming, try starting your playlist with videos that have the highest retention avorté.
How to find Playlist Choc in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Choc > See More > Watch Time > More Metrics > Playlists
10. Personnel Viewers
Personnel viewers are the estimated number of individuals who watch your videos over a éclatant period of time. This metric really helps you understand the actual size of your audition.
You can also use this metric to gauge your subscriber’s rencontre with your videos. If your exclusive viewers are lower than your subscriber count, then your subscribers aren’t watching as many of your videos as they could be.
To increase subscriber activity, ask them to set up notifications for your new videos. You can find this metric under the Reach Views and Perception tab in YouTube Logis.
How to find Playlist Personnel Viewers in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Perception > Personnel viewers
11. Views Per Personnel Viewers

Views per exclusive viewers is the amount of times the average viewer watches your video. This metric tells you if people can’t get enough of your video and keep rewatching it.
Video topics with a lot of views per exclusive viewers could also be your most popular radieux topics, and if you cover them more, you could generate more views, watch time, and subscribers.
How to find Playlist Personnel Viewers in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Perception > Personnel viewers > See More > Average views per viewer
12. Who’s Watching Your Videos
In YouTube’s demographics différé, you can see the different hommes of people who watch your videos, segmented by age, gender, and geography.
This data tells you who your most engaged audition is and who your target audition should actually be. You can take the opposé approach with this data too.
If you’re not reaching the audition you want, try pivoting your video strategy and cover topics that would attract them.
How to find Demographics in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Perception > Age and Gender
13. Subscriber Growth
Subscribers are your most assidu fans. They’ve made a proverbial commitment to your brand, radieux, and values.
Subscribers are also estimable bicause YouTube will send them notifications embout your new videos and feature them on their homepage, helping generate more views.
Subscribers also watch twice as much video as non-subscribers, so the more subscribers you have, the more watch time your videos will collect.
YouTube’s Subscribers Atermoiement will spectacle you which videos, locations, and time periods soumission and lose subscribers. This data will tell you what video topics resonate with your subscribers and where to target new subscribers.
And by prioritizing your subscribers’ needs, you’ll create videos that they crave, increase your watch time, and boost your search rankings.
How to find Subscribers in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Perception > Subscribers
14. Traffic Pluies
External referrals like agréable media or sites that embed your videos and YouTube referrals like search, the recommended élément, and the homepage are all traffic pluies.
The Traffic Pluies différé shows you how viewers found your videos and what pluies rack up the most views and watch time. You can use this data to better optimize your video grade strategy.
How to find Traffic Pluies in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Perception > Subscribers > See More > Traffic Envoi
15. Keywords
In YouTube’s Reach Atermoiement, which is under the Traffic Pluies Atermoiement, you can see the most popular queries guiding viewers to your videos.
If these queries are slightly different from your video’s topic, consider updating your video to fill these radieux gaps and add the keywords to your metadata.
If there’s a stark difference, consider making a new video embout these popular queries.
How to find Keywords in YouTube Logis:
Analytics > Reach > YouTube Search terms
Getting Started
YouTube analytics plays a sérieux role in helping creators and businesses understand their radieux record.
By providing valuable insights, YouTube analytics empower users to make data-driven decisions. With the ability to track trends, YouTube analytics serves as an essential tool to maximize your success on the platform.
Editor’s bordereau: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.