Analyze your video performance on YouTube v2
Analyze your video performance on YouTube v2
1. Navigate to Youtube Studio > Analytics to view your YouTube Analytics dashboard.
2. Click Reach to track performance of external campaigns, Engagement for viewer retention and interest, or Audience for viewer demographic information.
Overview: Views, watch time, subscribers. Reach: Impressions, click-through rate (CTR), views, unique viewers, and statistics about traffic sources. Engagement: Watch time in hours and average view duration. This is especially important if you run mid-roll ads. Channel Analytics shows your top videos, videos by end screen, playlists, cards, and end screen elements. Video Analytics shows audience retention, likes vs. dislikes, and end screen element click rate. Audience: Unique viewers, average views per viewer, and subscribers.
3. Define what performance means to you based on your larger marketing strategy, then create a goal from this definition.
For example, if your marketing goal is brand awareness, performance would mean increasing reach, so your YouTube goal might be to earn more views or to gain new audience members. Example goals include: Earn more views. Keep subscribers engaged. Reach a more diverse audience. Increase traffic to a website.
4. Identify the key metrics for your analysis by quantifying the goals you have set.
For example: To earn more views, evaluate existing view count, returning vs. new viewers, or impressions. To engage subscribers, evaluate subscriber watch time, likes and dislikes, card clicks, or comment count. To reach more diverse audiences, evaluate audience demographics and traffic sources. To increase traffic to a website, evaluate card or end screen clicks. Your specific metrics may differ based on your goals. Two different channels may also choose to look at different metrics for the same goal, so a strong familiarity with the YouTube Analytics dashboard is crucial to tailor your analysis to your specific needs.
5. Use Advanced Mode to observe how your past videos have performed in relation to each other according to your metrics and goals.
Advanced Mode allows you to compare performance over time. Use the tabs on the top of the page to choose the dimension you will measure, for example, Video, Traffic Source, then the drop-down boxes above the graph to choose a metric, for example, Views, Impressions.
6. Compare performance across different metrics by selecting both a primary and secondary metric to display at the same time.
This allows you to measure multidimensional performance on the same goal. For example, you can measure a video’s performance in reaching your engaging subscribers goal by evaluating both subscriber watch time, and comment count. For more advanced analysis, you can use the dedicated Compare to function to compare specific videos, periods, and groups within your core metrics.
7. Customize your date range to view detailed breakdowns of specific instances of success or failure.
If you experiment with new content, use this function to measure success like an A/B test. For example, you can choose monthly date ranges before and after pushing a new type of content to see how it impacted your performance on core metrics. On a broad scale, expanding your date range allows you to see large-scale impacts of your content strategy as well as overall channel and brand growth.
8. Connect your account to external analytics tools to expand your dataset and improve your analysis.
TubeBuddy is a browser extension that includes many of the data points from YouTube Analytics and more. It adds to the platform’s internal analytics through enhanced data visualizations, like pie and bar graphs, and more direct A/B testing opportunities with percentage comparisons. The tool can also help you publish videos faster and with better optimization using SEO analytics and publishing templates.
9. Save and export your analytics to use in reports. Adjust your channel marketing plans with your learnings.
Once you have finished your analysis, save your results for future reference. Revisit your analytics at least once a month to track ongoing growth.