Boosting Audience Size: A Comprehensive Guide to YouTube Shorts Success

How to Get More Views with YouTube Shorts

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

One of the biggest challenges that people face while using YouTube Shorts is how to get more views. Many new users wonder what and how should they prepare a video that is both 15-to-60 seconds long, and at the same time, it is engaging enough to make the audience view them with excitement.

With that said, the following sections discuss some best practices, and share a couple of tips to increase views on your YouTube Shorts videos.

• Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section
• Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

---

Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section

Comparatively different from other videos, the ones that are added under the ‘Featured’ section are recommended to the audience throughout the YouTube platform on the basis of the algorithms that automatically determine which clips should be liked beach viewer individually.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

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• 150+ Countries and Regions
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To elaborate, generally, YouTube suggests you a video as per your viewing history, browsing statistics, and other such information that the streaming media giant collects over time. On the other hand, the ‘Featured’ videos are suggested according to what YouTube ‘thinks’ might be of your interest, or could be somehow useful to you.

Therefore, when any clip is added as a ‘Featured’ video, YouTube suggests it to more viewers as compared to those that are published under the ‘Recommended’ category.

Note: Although there is a lot more to cover under the ‘Featured’ videos and channels section such as branding, advertisements, etc., such topics are beyond the scope of this piece.

Adding YouTube Shorts videos to the ‘Featured’ section is fairly simple, and the instructions given below explain how this can be done:

Note: It is assumed that you already have a couple of shorts video published on YouTube.

Step 1: Get to YouTube Studio Customization Section

Go to YouTube on your PC’s web browser, sign in to your Google account, click Your videos from the navigation bar in the left, and click Customization from the left bar when the Studio page opens up.

Step 2: Add YouTube Shorts

Click ADD SECTION from the Layout tab in the right window, and click Short videos from the list that appears next to add the YouTube Shorts category.

Step 3: Add Short videos to Featured sections and Save the Changes

Hold the Short videos bar from the moving handle at the left, and move it right below the Featured sections segment. Once the Short videos category is in the right place, click PUBLISH from the top-right corner of the page to save the changes. From this point onward, any YouTube Shorts video that you publish on your channel will be automatically added as ‘Featured’ after its approval.

Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The thumbnails are the face of the videos that you publish anywhere online. Therefore, it is imperative to take down the default one that is automatically added by YouTube, and add your own, custom image instead.

To have your own thumbnail, you can either pick any frame from within the video itself, or you can upload a separate photo from your PC, and replace the existing one with it.

Things to Consider for creating attractive thumbnail

While using your custom image as a thumbnail for your YouTube Shots videos, a few things that you should keep in mind include:

• Relevance

Make sure that the new photo that you are planning to use as a thumbnail is relevant to the short video. Any image that is out of context might confuse the viewers, and you may lose your audience and the subscribers forever and for good.

• Clarity

Always use an image with clear content and large text (if any). This lets the viewers easily determine whether the video is of their interest.

• Correctness

You should avoid using misleading images as thumbnails. While such photos would attract more viewers initially, people will gradually lose trust in your channel if they do not find what they expect by the glimpse of the thumbnail.

Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The fact of the matter is, YouTube Shorts videos aren’t much different that any other video that you publish on the platform. Therefore, the process of optimizing both short and regular videos is identical.

A few things that are extremely important, and play a vital role in optimizing YouTube Shorts videos include:

• Attractive Thumbnail

As mentioned above, the thumbnail of a video is its face, and the prettier and appealing the face is the more audience will it attract, and the more hits your video will get. Therefore, ensure to make the thumbnail of your short videos as attractive as you possibly can.

• Compelling Title

The title says it all. Your short videos will have good chances of getting noticed and hits if they have an impulsive and compelling title that can give the viewers a summary of what they can expect from the clip.

• Detailed Description

The description of your short videos should be complete, and must explain the theme, genre, and nature of the clip. With the detailed description, the viewers will be able to assess if the video would be helpful to them in some manner.

• Tags

Make sure to add relevant tags to your short videos. For instance, adding ‘#Shorts’ in the title or description of the video tells YouTube that the clip is created for YouTube Shorts. Likewise, other tags that are related to the genre and/or theme of the short videos help YouTube suggest your media to the relevant audiences across the website.

Filmora - Best YouTube Shorts Video Editor for PC

• Easily record a video on PC and Mac.
• Edit videos quickly with a wide range of gaming effects.
• Rich video tempaltes and resources for YouTube videos.
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

Try It Free >>

Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

YouTube Shorts are videos that are no more than 60 seconds long in length. When added under the ‘Featured’ category, you can see a significant amount of increment in the hits, and therefore the view count and the playback duration of your YouTube channel gets directly affected.

However, because these short videos cannot be monetized, at times you may notice that even though the total playback duration and view counts of your YouTube channel are high, your earnings may not be as much as what you would receive if those clips were published as regular videos.

FAQ: Will YouTube Shorts Performance Impact Other YouTube Stats?

Yes. As mentioned above, the view counts and playback durations of YouTube Shorts videos are added to your channel’s statistics. Therefore, with the number of views your short videos get, the overall performance of your YouTube stats is affected accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

One of the biggest challenges that people face while using YouTube Shorts is how to get more views. Many new users wonder what and how should they prepare a video that is both 15-to-60 seconds long, and at the same time, it is engaging enough to make the audience view them with excitement.

With that said, the following sections discuss some best practices, and share a couple of tips to increase views on your YouTube Shorts videos.

• Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section
• Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

---

Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section

Comparatively different from other videos, the ones that are added under the ‘Featured’ section are recommended to the audience throughout the YouTube platform on the basis of the algorithms that automatically determine which clips should be liked beach viewer individually.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

• 100 Million+ Users
• 150+ Countries and Regions
• 4 Million+ Social Media Followers
• 5 Million+ Stock Media for Use

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free

Try It Free

* Secure Download

To elaborate, generally, YouTube suggests you a video as per your viewing history, browsing statistics, and other such information that the streaming media giant collects over time. On the other hand, the ‘Featured’ videos are suggested according to what YouTube ‘thinks’ might be of your interest, or could be somehow useful to you.

Therefore, when any clip is added as a ‘Featured’ video, YouTube suggests it to more viewers as compared to those that are published under the ‘Recommended’ category.

Note: Although there is a lot more to cover under the ‘Featured’ videos and channels section such as branding, advertisements, etc., such topics are beyond the scope of this piece.

Adding YouTube Shorts videos to the ‘Featured’ section is fairly simple, and the instructions given below explain how this can be done:

Note: It is assumed that you already have a couple of shorts video published on YouTube.

Step 1: Get to YouTube Studio Customization Section

Go to YouTube on your PC’s web browser, sign in to your Google account, click Your videos from the navigation bar in the left, and click Customization from the left bar when the Studio page opens up.

Step 2: Add YouTube Shorts

Click ADD SECTION from the Layout tab in the right window, and click Short videos from the list that appears next to add the YouTube Shorts category.

Step 3: Add Short videos to Featured sections and Save the Changes

Hold the Short videos bar from the moving handle at the left, and move it right below the Featured sections segment. Once the Short videos category is in the right place, click PUBLISH from the top-right corner of the page to save the changes. From this point onward, any YouTube Shorts video that you publish on your channel will be automatically added as ‘Featured’ after its approval.

Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The thumbnails are the face of the videos that you publish anywhere online. Therefore, it is imperative to take down the default one that is automatically added by YouTube, and add your own, custom image instead.

To have your own thumbnail, you can either pick any frame from within the video itself, or you can upload a separate photo from your PC, and replace the existing one with it.

Things to Consider for creating attractive thumbnail

While using your custom image as a thumbnail for your YouTube Shots videos, a few things that you should keep in mind include:

• Relevance

Make sure that the new photo that you are planning to use as a thumbnail is relevant to the short video. Any image that is out of context might confuse the viewers, and you may lose your audience and the subscribers forever and for good.

• Clarity

Always use an image with clear content and large text (if any). This lets the viewers easily determine whether the video is of their interest.

• Correctness

You should avoid using misleading images as thumbnails. While such photos would attract more viewers initially, people will gradually lose trust in your channel if they do not find what they expect by the glimpse of the thumbnail.

Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The fact of the matter is, YouTube Shorts videos aren’t much different that any other video that you publish on the platform. Therefore, the process of optimizing both short and regular videos is identical.

A few things that are extremely important, and play a vital role in optimizing YouTube Shorts videos include:

• Attractive Thumbnail

As mentioned above, the thumbnail of a video is its face, and the prettier and appealing the face is the more audience will it attract, and the more hits your video will get. Therefore, ensure to make the thumbnail of your short videos as attractive as you possibly can.

• Compelling Title

The title says it all. Your short videos will have good chances of getting noticed and hits if they have an impulsive and compelling title that can give the viewers a summary of what they can expect from the clip.

• Detailed Description

The description of your short videos should be complete, and must explain the theme, genre, and nature of the clip. With the detailed description, the viewers will be able to assess if the video would be helpful to them in some manner.

• Tags

Make sure to add relevant tags to your short videos. For instance, adding ‘#Shorts’ in the title or description of the video tells YouTube that the clip is created for YouTube Shorts. Likewise, other tags that are related to the genre and/or theme of the short videos help YouTube suggest your media to the relevant audiences across the website.

Filmora - Best YouTube Shorts Video Editor for PC

• Easily record a video on PC and Mac.
• Edit videos quickly with a wide range of gaming effects.
• Rich video tempaltes and resources for YouTube videos.
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

Try It Free >>

Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

YouTube Shorts are videos that are no more than 60 seconds long in length. When added under the ‘Featured’ category, you can see a significant amount of increment in the hits, and therefore the view count and the playback duration of your YouTube channel gets directly affected.

However, because these short videos cannot be monetized, at times you may notice that even though the total playback duration and view counts of your YouTube channel are high, your earnings may not be as much as what you would receive if those clips were published as regular videos.

FAQ: Will YouTube Shorts Performance Impact Other YouTube Stats?

Yes. As mentioned above, the view counts and playback durations of YouTube Shorts videos are added to your channel’s statistics. Therefore, with the number of views your short videos get, the overall performance of your YouTube stats is affected accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

One of the biggest challenges that people face while using YouTube Shorts is how to get more views. Many new users wonder what and how should they prepare a video that is both 15-to-60 seconds long, and at the same time, it is engaging enough to make the audience view them with excitement.

With that said, the following sections discuss some best practices, and share a couple of tips to increase views on your YouTube Shorts videos.

• Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section
• Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

---

Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section

Comparatively different from other videos, the ones that are added under the ‘Featured’ section are recommended to the audience throughout the YouTube platform on the basis of the algorithms that automatically determine which clips should be liked beach viewer individually.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

• 100 Million+ Users
• 150+ Countries and Regions
• 4 Million+ Social Media Followers
• 5 Million+ Stock Media for Use

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free

Try It Free

* Secure Download

To elaborate, generally, YouTube suggests you a video as per your viewing history, browsing statistics, and other such information that the streaming media giant collects over time. On the other hand, the ‘Featured’ videos are suggested according to what YouTube ‘thinks’ might be of your interest, or could be somehow useful to you.

Therefore, when any clip is added as a ‘Featured’ video, YouTube suggests it to more viewers as compared to those that are published under the ‘Recommended’ category.

Note: Although there is a lot more to cover under the ‘Featured’ videos and channels section such as branding, advertisements, etc., such topics are beyond the scope of this piece.

Adding YouTube Shorts videos to the ‘Featured’ section is fairly simple, and the instructions given below explain how this can be done:

Note: It is assumed that you already have a couple of shorts video published on YouTube.

Step 1: Get to YouTube Studio Customization Section

Go to YouTube on your PC’s web browser, sign in to your Google account, click Your videos from the navigation bar in the left, and click Customization from the left bar when the Studio page opens up.

Step 2: Add YouTube Shorts

Click ADD SECTION from the Layout tab in the right window, and click Short videos from the list that appears next to add the YouTube Shorts category.

Step 3: Add Short videos to Featured sections and Save the Changes

Hold the Short videos bar from the moving handle at the left, and move it right below the Featured sections segment. Once the Short videos category is in the right place, click PUBLISH from the top-right corner of the page to save the changes. From this point onward, any YouTube Shorts video that you publish on your channel will be automatically added as ‘Featured’ after its approval.

Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The thumbnails are the face of the videos that you publish anywhere online. Therefore, it is imperative to take down the default one that is automatically added by YouTube, and add your own, custom image instead.

To have your own thumbnail, you can either pick any frame from within the video itself, or you can upload a separate photo from your PC, and replace the existing one with it.

Things to Consider for creating attractive thumbnail

While using your custom image as a thumbnail for your YouTube Shots videos, a few things that you should keep in mind include:

• Relevance

Make sure that the new photo that you are planning to use as a thumbnail is relevant to the short video. Any image that is out of context might confuse the viewers, and you may lose your audience and the subscribers forever and for good.

• Clarity

Always use an image with clear content and large text (if any). This lets the viewers easily determine whether the video is of their interest.

• Correctness

You should avoid using misleading images as thumbnails. While such photos would attract more viewers initially, people will gradually lose trust in your channel if they do not find what they expect by the glimpse of the thumbnail.

Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The fact of the matter is, YouTube Shorts videos aren’t much different that any other video that you publish on the platform. Therefore, the process of optimizing both short and regular videos is identical.

A few things that are extremely important, and play a vital role in optimizing YouTube Shorts videos include:

• Attractive Thumbnail

As mentioned above, the thumbnail of a video is its face, and the prettier and appealing the face is the more audience will it attract, and the more hits your video will get. Therefore, ensure to make the thumbnail of your short videos as attractive as you possibly can.

• Compelling Title

The title says it all. Your short videos will have good chances of getting noticed and hits if they have an impulsive and compelling title that can give the viewers a summary of what they can expect from the clip.

• Detailed Description

The description of your short videos should be complete, and must explain the theme, genre, and nature of the clip. With the detailed description, the viewers will be able to assess if the video would be helpful to them in some manner.

• Tags

Make sure to add relevant tags to your short videos. For instance, adding ‘#Shorts’ in the title or description of the video tells YouTube that the clip is created for YouTube Shorts. Likewise, other tags that are related to the genre and/or theme of the short videos help YouTube suggest your media to the relevant audiences across the website.

Filmora - Best YouTube Shorts Video Editor for PC

• Easily record a video on PC and Mac.
• Edit videos quickly with a wide range of gaming effects.
• Rich video tempaltes and resources for YouTube videos.
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

Try It Free >>

Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

YouTube Shorts are videos that are no more than 60 seconds long in length. When added under the ‘Featured’ category, you can see a significant amount of increment in the hits, and therefore the view count and the playback duration of your YouTube channel gets directly affected.

However, because these short videos cannot be monetized, at times you may notice that even though the total playback duration and view counts of your YouTube channel are high, your earnings may not be as much as what you would receive if those clips were published as regular videos.

FAQ: Will YouTube Shorts Performance Impact Other YouTube Stats?

Yes. As mentioned above, the view counts and playback durations of YouTube Shorts videos are added to your channel’s statistics. Therefore, with the number of views your short videos get, the overall performance of your YouTube stats is affected accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

One of the biggest challenges that people face while using YouTube Shorts is how to get more views. Many new users wonder what and how should they prepare a video that is both 15-to-60 seconds long, and at the same time, it is engaging enough to make the audience view them with excitement.

With that said, the following sections discuss some best practices, and share a couple of tips to increase views on your YouTube Shorts videos.

• Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section
• Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views
• Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

---

Part 1: Get More Views by Adding Shorts Video to the ‘Featured’ Section

Comparatively different from other videos, the ones that are added under the ‘Featured’ section are recommended to the audience throughout the YouTube platform on the basis of the algorithms that automatically determine which clips should be liked beach viewer individually.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

• 100 Million+ Users
• 150+ Countries and Regions
• 4 Million+ Social Media Followers
• 5 Million+ Stock Media for Use

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free

Try It Free

* Secure Download

To elaborate, generally, YouTube suggests you a video as per your viewing history, browsing statistics, and other such information that the streaming media giant collects over time. On the other hand, the ‘Featured’ videos are suggested according to what YouTube ‘thinks’ might be of your interest, or could be somehow useful to you.

Therefore, when any clip is added as a ‘Featured’ video, YouTube suggests it to more viewers as compared to those that are published under the ‘Recommended’ category.

Note: Although there is a lot more to cover under the ‘Featured’ videos and channels section such as branding, advertisements, etc., such topics are beyond the scope of this piece.

Adding YouTube Shorts videos to the ‘Featured’ section is fairly simple, and the instructions given below explain how this can be done:

Note: It is assumed that you already have a couple of shorts video published on YouTube.

Step 1: Get to YouTube Studio Customization Section

Go to YouTube on your PC’s web browser, sign in to your Google account, click Your videos from the navigation bar in the left, and click Customization from the left bar when the Studio page opens up.

Step 2: Add YouTube Shorts

Click ADD SECTION from the Layout tab in the right window, and click Short videos from the list that appears next to add the YouTube Shorts category.

Step 3: Add Short videos to Featured sections and Save the Changes

Hold the Short videos bar from the moving handle at the left, and move it right below the Featured sections segment. Once the Short videos category is in the right place, click PUBLISH from the top-right corner of the page to save the changes. From this point onward, any YouTube Shorts video that you publish on your channel will be automatically added as ‘Featured’ after its approval.

Part 2: Create Attractive Thumbnail for YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The thumbnails are the face of the videos that you publish anywhere online. Therefore, it is imperative to take down the default one that is automatically added by YouTube, and add your own, custom image instead.

To have your own thumbnail, you can either pick any frame from within the video itself, or you can upload a separate photo from your PC, and replace the existing one with it.

Things to Consider for creating attractive thumbnail

While using your custom image as a thumbnail for your YouTube Shots videos, a few things that you should keep in mind include:

• Relevance

Make sure that the new photo that you are planning to use as a thumbnail is relevant to the short video. Any image that is out of context might confuse the viewers, and you may lose your audience and the subscribers forever and for good.

• Clarity

Always use an image with clear content and large text (if any). This lets the viewers easily determine whether the video is of their interest.

• Correctness

You should avoid using misleading images as thumbnails. While such photos would attract more viewers initially, people will gradually lose trust in your channel if they do not find what they expect by the glimpse of the thumbnail.

Part 3: Optimize YouTube Shorts to Get More Views

The fact of the matter is, YouTube Shorts videos aren’t much different that any other video that you publish on the platform. Therefore, the process of optimizing both short and regular videos is identical.

A few things that are extremely important, and play a vital role in optimizing YouTube Shorts videos include:

• Attractive Thumbnail

As mentioned above, the thumbnail of a video is its face, and the prettier and appealing the face is the more audience will it attract, and the more hits your video will get. Therefore, ensure to make the thumbnail of your short videos as attractive as you possibly can.

• Compelling Title

The title says it all. Your short videos will have good chances of getting noticed and hits if they have an impulsive and compelling title that can give the viewers a summary of what they can expect from the clip.

• Detailed Description

The description of your short videos should be complete, and must explain the theme, genre, and nature of the clip. With the detailed description, the viewers will be able to assess if the video would be helpful to them in some manner.

• Tags

Make sure to add relevant tags to your short videos. For instance, adding ‘#Shorts’ in the title or description of the video tells YouTube that the clip is created for YouTube Shorts. Likewise, other tags that are related to the genre and/or theme of the short videos help YouTube suggest your media to the relevant audiences across the website.

Filmora - Best YouTube Shorts Video Editor for PC

• Easily record a video on PC and Mac.
• Edit videos quickly with a wide range of gaming effects.
• Rich video tempaltes and resources for YouTube videos.
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

Try It Free >>

Part 4: How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance

YouTube Shorts are videos that are no more than 60 seconds long in length. When added under the ‘Featured’ category, you can see a significant amount of increment in the hits, and therefore the view count and the playback duration of your YouTube channel gets directly affected.

However, because these short videos cannot be monetized, at times you may notice that even though the total playback duration and view counts of your YouTube channel are high, your earnings may not be as much as what you would receive if those clips were published as regular videos.

FAQ: Will YouTube Shorts Performance Impact Other YouTube Stats?

Yes. As mentioned above, the view counts and playback durations of YouTube Shorts videos are added to your channel’s statistics. Therefore, with the number of views your short videos get, the overall performance of your YouTube stats is affected accordingly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Drive Engagement, Not Farewells: Top Strategies to Keep Your Audience Hooked on YouTube

6 Ways To Increase Audience Retention on YouTube

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Audience retention is one of your most important stats on YouTube. It is even more important than your view count. Your view count really only tells you how many people are finding and clicking on your videos, not whether they are actually watching them. Audience retention refers to how much of a video a viewer watches before clicking away, which is very useful information to have. If you know when people are leaving your videos then you know what you need to work on.

You May Also Like: How to analyse your and your competitors’ YouTube Channel >>
How to structure a YouTube video >>

• Part 1: What is Audience Retention?
• Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?
• Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?
• Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

Part 1: What is Audience Retention?

To put it in simple terms, YouTube audience retention is about how much of each video your viewers watch. It’s usually expressed as a percentage, so if your viewer gets half way through, they will have a retention of 50 per cent.

For YouTube analytics, audience retention is taken as a mean of the retention figures for each of your viewers. For example, if you post a ten-minute video and half your viewers get to the five-minute mark, that’s a retention of 50 per cent. If the other half watch it right to the end, that’s a retention of 100 per cent. The mean of these two figures is 75 per cent, and that’s what YouTube will use as your audience retention figure.

This retention rate affects how highly your video is ranked on YouTube, with videos boasting higher audience retention rates appearing higher in the search results than those which do not. This is because both YouTube and Google are highly focussed on customer satisfaction, and a long watch time means a very happy customer was watching that video. For this reason, it’s well worth considering how to increase YouTube audience retention as it demonstrates that you’re making great content as well as helping you get more viewers.

Part 2: How to See Your Audience Retention Report in YouTube?

YouTube will produce reports to help you keep track of your audience retention. There are two types of audience retention reports; absolute and relative. Absolute allows you to view a graph of your video’s retention and see when people might be clicking away, or if they are skipping to later parts of your video. If you lose a lot of viewers in the first 15 seconds of your videos then that is a clear indication that your content is not what the viewers who find your videos really want. The relative report is where your video is compared to the average retention of similar videos.

Note that by ‘similar videos’, YouTube means videos of a similar length. There is no way to compare your videos only to other videos in your genre. The relative report will always be somewhat skewed because your videos will be measured against very different content.

To see an audience retention report log into your YouTube account and go to yourCreator Studio. There, selectAudience RetentionunderAnalytics.

Part 3: What is a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube?

When you’re considering how to increase YouTube audience retention, it can be good to have a goal in mind. Obviously 100 per cent is going to be the Holy Grail of retention rates, but how many videos are actually going to achieve that? It only takes for one person to ‘accidentally’ click on your video and rapidly click away, or for someone to have to stop for outside reasons, to drag your average down.

According to the YouTube community, a good goal to aim for is around 50 per cent, but as there is a lot which can affect your retention rate, that number may be different for you. Low view numbers sometimes get higher retention rates because it’s mainly subscribers watching, whereas channels with millions of views may suffer due to more people abandoning. Rather than setting yourself a golden number, focus instead on increasing your retention rate from wherever it is now, and celebrate your own success instead of measuring yourself against others.

Part 4: 6 Ways to Increase YouTube Audience Retention

If you’re serious about learning how to increase YouTube audience retention, here are five of the best ideas for you:

1. Compare your videos

Investigating your audience retention report will highlight the videos where you achieved maximum success. Think about what you did here, and work to replicate that technique. Perhaps you were talking about a product, or maybe your structured your video slightly differently. It’s up to you to dissect your video and find out what it was that kept people watching for longer, so that you can repeat this success in the future. You can also use some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to take a look at the videos in your similar channels, and learn the popular videos on their channels.

2. Get on with it

Research shows that YouTube viewers have an incredibly short attention span. Depending on who you believe, you could have as much as six seconds or as little as just three to grab their attention and compel them to carry on watching. If you want to improve your audience retention, coming in with an engaging, attention grabbing statement right at the start is crucial to your success. Nobody wants to waste their time watching someone waffle on for ages about their granny or their favorite hobbies, so get right down to it straight away, by telling them what’s in store.

3. Make it visually engaging

Perhaps all you’ve got is a presentation to make. You’re not a gamer, you’re not showing clips of your cat and you’re not doing a makeup tutorial, so surely all you need is a camera, good lighting and your face, right? Wrong. Viewers like to see the visual content changing, and videos which have a range of scenes are usually far more successful than those where it’s just a person talking to camera. Think about how you can insert cutaways, pop up text, different footage and other graphics to keep it interesting for your viewers.

4. Make it shorter

This one is a no brainer really. If you make a one-minute video, how hard is it going to be to keep viewers watching to the end compared to a 20-minute marathon. However, going too short can be negative too, unless you really do have something very quick and simple to showcase. Long videos work well for YouTubers in the gaming niche, in particular, because viewers want to know the end result, but for most of us, these sorts of viewing statistics are hard to reach.

If you consider a viewer who watches three minutes of your content, would you rather they watched three minutes of a ten-minute video and then clicked away bored, or would you rather they finished an entire video that was only three minutes long? Both in terms of audience retention and of your own reputation, having a viewer finish a short video is much more valuable to you than losing someone half way through a long one. That person probably enjoyed your content to the end and will more than likely watch another one of your videos. Conversely, the one you lost half way through was bored enough to stop watching and will probably not bother viewing any other videos of yours in future.

5. Keep them hooked

Think carefully about your YouTube video structure. Ideally, you will tell them at the very start that you’ve got something amazing to share with them later on. This could be a tip, a tutorial, a new product reveal or even something funny. Whatever it is, tell them they’re going to love it from the start, and keep reminding them to watch from the end to get this gift. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them great content all the way through, just that you should save a carrot for the end of the ride to reward those loyal viewers.

So, now you know how to increase YouTube audience retention, what are you going to do about it? Have a go at modifying your videos to boost the numbers who will watch to the end and let us know how you got on.

6. Use an Excellent Video Editor

Content is the king. It is necessary to use a powerful video editor to help you edit videos. With an excellent video editor like Filmora, you can custom stunning videos effortlessly.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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