Effortless Guide to Adding Banners on Gaming Channels

Effortless Guide to Adding Banners on Gaming Channels

Kevin Lv12

Effortless Guide to Adding Banners on Gaming Channels

Gaming videos have become increasingly popular on YouTube, especially among young people. It is not uncommon for older folk to enjoy this type of content, especially if they want to unwind after a long day. However, the industry is becoming pretty crowded, making it harder for content creators to stand out from the crowd.

An excellent way to get your target audience to notice you would be to design a killer YouTube banner that will immediately cause anyone scrolling past to click on your video. Stick around to learn how to create a great gaming YouTube banner with templates.

pholody interface

Importance of a Banner for Your YouTube Gaming Channel

Imagine a scenario where you want to open a brick-and-mortar store. One of the most important things you need to get out of the way is the business name. Once you have settled on a fitting name, you will then move on to create a sign to place outside your shop.

For example, a banner for your YouTube gaming channel plays a similar role to signage for a brick-and-mortar shop.

  • An excellent banner helps you make a solid first impression on your viewers, some of who is viewing your content for the first time.
  • Secondly, a well-designed banner reflects positively on your brand and helps you grow your audience at a steady rate.
  • Thirdly, you can use your banner to give your viewers a rough idea of what your video is about without them clicking to watch. A suitable banner can cause anticipation to build within your viewers. Once the video is over, they won’t resist visiting your channel to see what else you offer.

Guide to YouTube Gaming Banner Size

We can liken a banner for your YouTube video to a book cover to a novel you have been dying to read. Therefore, it would be wise to get the size right if you want to create an excellent first impression for yourself. Ideally, the best size for a YouTube banner is 2560*1440 pixels or an aspect ratio of 16:9.

We urge you not to upload a banner smaller than 2048*1152 pixels, or else the image will appear cropped. Keep your banner within 1235*338 pixels and centered on the screen to be on the safe side.

This YouTube banner dimension is ideal for viewing on any device since your audience might use their smartphones or laptop to watch your videos on YouTube. Lastly, ensure you keep the file to a maximum of 6MB. We believe this file size is pretty generous.

Tips for Designing an Attractive Gaming YouTube Banner

Below are some tips that will help you create beautiful YouTube banners.

Simplicity is key: Contrary to popular belief, a simple banner looks more polished than a complex one. If your YouTube banner has too many elements, your viewers using their mobile phones might have a challenge viewing the image.

Ensure the graphics are high-quality : Nothing is as frustrating to your viewers as seeing a blurry or pixelated YouTube banner. However, high-quality graphics with a resolution of at least 1920*1080 pixels make your work look polished and attract more viewers to your channel.

Leverage the grid system: Some of your viewers might watch your videos from their smartphones, and others on their laptops or tablets. The grid system allows you to ensure the full banner will be visible no matter what device your audience will use to watch your gaming videos.

Add a CTA: At the end of the day, you are trying to grow your audience on your YouTube channel. You might also have other social media platforms where you post content. Since your banner is one of the first things your audience will see, you could include a short, easy-to-read, and understandable call to action. For instance, you could encourage them to “Subscribe Now!”

Incorporate your unique color scheme: By now, you already have a theme for your YouTube channel that your existing subscribers associate with you. As you design your YouTube banner, ensure you incorporate your theme colors, so new visitors know what colors to look out for as they scroll on the platform.

Why Use Templates To Create Gaming YouTube Banners?

First and foremost, a gaming youtube banner template takes the tedium out of creating a design from scratch. They are also systematized, meaning you can download a template specifically for YouTube that comes in the correct dimensions. Most importantly, templates designed for gaming YouTube banners are optimized to help you generate more organic traffic to your channel.

You probably have other expenses breathing down your neck. No need to add your YouTube banner to the list. A youtube gaming channel banner template a budget-friendly way to create stunning designs for your banner that actually look good. If you are lucky, you might find free programs to help you create gorgeous YouTube banners for your gaming channel.

Make YouTube Gaming Banners With Templates in Filmora

Now that you understand why a gaming channel banner template is essential for your YouTube channel, you might wonder where you can find some good ones to incorporate into your videos. Don’t worry because Filmora is precisely what you need.

Wondershare Filmora has a fantastic template feature that helps you make creative videos effortlessly. You can use the preset templates in the platform, saving you lots of time you would have spent designing your template from scratch. We guarantee you cannot exhaust the 1000+ templates this platform offers, meaning you are spoilt for choice!

If you want to customize your video, you can replace the stock videos that come with the preset templates with footage from your internal storage. In addition, Wondershare Filmora lets you share your favorite templates with other content creators who would also like to try making their own cool videos.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Below is a detailed step-by-step guide on how to make a gaming YouTuber banner template with Wondershare Filmora.

Step 1. After creating a project with Filmora, click on the “File” tab, wait for a drop-down menu to appear, and select “Project Settings.”

filmora project settings

Step 2. Once a dialogue box appears, go to the “Resolution” tab and adjust the resolution to 2560*1140.

Step 3. Upload your footage or photo from your internal storage by clicking on the logo below.

import footage to filmora

Step 4. Click on the “Template” tab at the top of the page and click “Game.” Browse the available templates till you see one you like.

filmora game templates

Step 5. Drag and drop the template you have chosen to the timeline as shown below.

drag game templates to timeline

Step 6. Replace the sample footage in the template by dragging and dropping your own footage into the timeline.

replace media clips filmora

Step 7. Customize the footage and change the settings until you are happy with the outcome. Edit the text using the tools provided in the platform.

edit text in filmora

Step 8. Take a screenshot of the final result.

take snapshot in filmora

Step 9. Specify the snapshot format and choose the storage location before saving a copy to your device.

snapshot window in filmora

Step 10. Once the snapshot appears in the Media Panel, right-click on it to open. Select “Reveal in Explorer” to locate the picture in your internal storage. You can now use the photo as your YouTube gaming banner.

reveal in explorer filmora

5 Websites for Gaming Banner Templates Your YouTube

Wondershare Filmora is not the only platform you can use to create banner templates for your YouTube channel. Here is a list of 5 more websites you can try and a detailed breakdown of the remarkable features you are bound to enjoy.

1. Canva

The first alternative to Filmora on our list is Canva, which has thousands of professional, ready-made designs to wow your audience. You can work alone or with a dedicated team to ensure you design only the best banner for your channel to attract the masses to the kind of content you create.

canva gaming templates

2. PosterMyWall

We couldn’t forget to include PosterMyWall to our list, which has pre-made templates you can customize to suit your needs. With PosterMyWall, you can save the time you could have used to design a banner from scratch to think of more content for your channel. The developers suggest various templates you might like, not to mention that you can sign up for free!

postermywall gaming templates

3. Freepik

Another suitable alternative to Filmora is Freepik. We guarantee you cannot exhaust all the numerous templates this platform offers. Each template is unique, with different color combinations and fonts to cater to the theme colors on your YouTube channel. You could opt for the free version or sign up for a Premium account and get 30% off.

freepik gameing template

4. Pickmaker

The fourth alternative on our list is Pickmaker, a sure way to take your gaming channel to the next level. The templates are arranged in broad categories to help you pick the best one based on the type of content you post. In addition, you don’t have to part with your precious monies to start designing YouTube banners with Pickmaker.

picmaker gaming banner template

5. Placeit

Last but definitely not least is Placeit, which contains picturesque templates fitting for a gaming YouTube channel. We guarantee your audience won’t resist clicking on your videos once you use any of the templates within this platform. All you need to do is create a free account to enjoy the perks. Placeit makes your work easier by allowing you to indicate your favorite templates for use later.

placeit gaming banner template

Conclusion

Gaming content is far from boring, and neither should your banner. Remember, your audience will judge you based on your banner, the first content they interact with before they click to watch your video.

The better you can design your banner, the higher your chances of growing an audience that supports you by watching your content regularly. Once you have created an enticing banner, all that’s left is to ensure you have the content to match.

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Below is a detailed step-by-step guide on how to make a gaming YouTuber banner template with Wondershare Filmora.

Step 1. After creating a project with Filmora, click on the “File” tab, wait for a drop-down menu to appear, and select “Project Settings.”

filmora project settings

Step 2. Once a dialogue box appears, go to the “Resolution” tab and adjust the resolution to 2560*1140.

Step 3. Upload your footage or photo from your internal storage by clicking on the logo below.

import footage to filmora

Step 4. Click on the “Template” tab at the top of the page and click “Game.” Browse the available templates till you see one you like.

filmora game templates

Step 5. Drag and drop the template you have chosen to the timeline as shown below.

drag game templates to timeline

Step 6. Replace the sample footage in the template by dragging and dropping your own footage into the timeline.

replace media clips filmora

Step 7. Customize the footage and change the settings until you are happy with the outcome. Edit the text using the tools provided in the platform.

edit text in filmora

Step 8. Take a screenshot of the final result.

take snapshot in filmora

Step 9. Specify the snapshot format and choose the storage location before saving a copy to your device.

snapshot window in filmora

Step 10. Once the snapshot appears in the Media Panel, right-click on it to open. Select “Reveal in Explorer” to locate the picture in your internal storage. You can now use the photo as your YouTube gaming banner.

reveal in explorer filmora

5 Websites for Gaming Banner Templates Your YouTube

Wondershare Filmora is not the only platform you can use to create banner templates for your YouTube channel. Here is a list of 5 more websites you can try and a detailed breakdown of the remarkable features you are bound to enjoy.

1. Canva

The first alternative to Filmora on our list is Canva, which has thousands of professional, ready-made designs to wow your audience. You can work alone or with a dedicated team to ensure you design only the best banner for your channel to attract the masses to the kind of content you create.

canva gaming templates

2. PosterMyWall

We couldn’t forget to include PosterMyWall to our list, which has pre-made templates you can customize to suit your needs. With PosterMyWall, you can save the time you could have used to design a banner from scratch to think of more content for your channel. The developers suggest various templates you might like, not to mention that you can sign up for free!

postermywall gaming templates

3. Freepik

Another suitable alternative to Filmora is Freepik. We guarantee you cannot exhaust all the numerous templates this platform offers. Each template is unique, with different color combinations and fonts to cater to the theme colors on your YouTube channel. You could opt for the free version or sign up for a Premium account and get 30% off.

freepik gameing template

4. Pickmaker

The fourth alternative on our list is Pickmaker, a sure way to take your gaming channel to the next level. The templates are arranged in broad categories to help you pick the best one based on the type of content you post. In addition, you don’t have to part with your precious monies to start designing YouTube banners with Pickmaker.

picmaker gaming banner template

5. Placeit

Last but definitely not least is Placeit, which contains picturesque templates fitting for a gaming YouTube channel. We guarantee your audience won’t resist clicking on your videos once you use any of the templates within this platform. All you need to do is create a free account to enjoy the perks. Placeit makes your work easier by allowing you to indicate your favorite templates for use later.

placeit gaming banner template

Conclusion

Gaming content is far from boring, and neither should your banner. Remember, your audience will judge you based on your banner, the first content they interact with before they click to watch your video.

The better you can design your banner, the higher your chances of growing an audience that supports you by watching your content regularly. Once you have created an enticing banner, all that’s left is to ensure you have the content to match.

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Below is a detailed step-by-step guide on how to make a gaming YouTuber banner template with Wondershare Filmora.

Step 1. After creating a project with Filmora, click on the “File” tab, wait for a drop-down menu to appear, and select “Project Settings.”

filmora project settings

Step 2. Once a dialogue box appears, go to the “Resolution” tab and adjust the resolution to 2560*1140.

Step 3. Upload your footage or photo from your internal storage by clicking on the logo below.

import footage to filmora

Step 4. Click on the “Template” tab at the top of the page and click “Game.” Browse the available templates till you see one you like.

filmora game templates

Step 5. Drag and drop the template you have chosen to the timeline as shown below.

drag game templates to timeline

Step 6. Replace the sample footage in the template by dragging and dropping your own footage into the timeline.

replace media clips filmora

Step 7. Customize the footage and change the settings until you are happy with the outcome. Edit the text using the tools provided in the platform.

edit text in filmora

Step 8. Take a screenshot of the final result.

take snapshot in filmora

Step 9. Specify the snapshot format and choose the storage location before saving a copy to your device.

snapshot window in filmora

Step 10. Once the snapshot appears in the Media Panel, right-click on it to open. Select “Reveal in Explorer” to locate the picture in your internal storage. You can now use the photo as your YouTube gaming banner.

reveal in explorer filmora

5 Websites for Gaming Banner Templates Your YouTube

Wondershare Filmora is not the only platform you can use to create banner templates for your YouTube channel. Here is a list of 5 more websites you can try and a detailed breakdown of the remarkable features you are bound to enjoy.

1. Canva

The first alternative to Filmora on our list is Canva, which has thousands of professional, ready-made designs to wow your audience. You can work alone or with a dedicated team to ensure you design only the best banner for your channel to attract the masses to the kind of content you create.

canva gaming templates

2. PosterMyWall

We couldn’t forget to include PosterMyWall to our list, which has pre-made templates you can customize to suit your needs. With PosterMyWall, you can save the time you could have used to design a banner from scratch to think of more content for your channel. The developers suggest various templates you might like, not to mention that you can sign up for free!

postermywall gaming templates

3. Freepik

Another suitable alternative to Filmora is Freepik. We guarantee you cannot exhaust all the numerous templates this platform offers. Each template is unique, with different color combinations and fonts to cater to the theme colors on your YouTube channel. You could opt for the free version or sign up for a Premium account and get 30% off.

freepik gameing template

4. Pickmaker

The fourth alternative on our list is Pickmaker, a sure way to take your gaming channel to the next level. The templates are arranged in broad categories to help you pick the best one based on the type of content you post. In addition, you don’t have to part with your precious monies to start designing YouTube banners with Pickmaker.

picmaker gaming banner template

5. Placeit

Last but definitely not least is Placeit, which contains picturesque templates fitting for a gaming YouTube channel. We guarantee your audience won’t resist clicking on your videos once you use any of the templates within this platform. All you need to do is create a free account to enjoy the perks. Placeit makes your work easier by allowing you to indicate your favorite templates for use later.

placeit gaming banner template

Conclusion

Gaming content is far from boring, and neither should your banner. Remember, your audience will judge you based on your banner, the first content they interact with before they click to watch your video.

The better you can design your banner, the higher your chances of growing an audience that supports you by watching your content regularly. Once you have created an enticing banner, all that’s left is to ensure you have the content to match.

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Below is a detailed step-by-step guide on how to make a gaming YouTuber banner template with Wondershare Filmora.

Step 1. After creating a project with Filmora, click on the “File” tab, wait for a drop-down menu to appear, and select “Project Settings.”

filmora project settings

Step 2. Once a dialogue box appears, go to the “Resolution” tab and adjust the resolution to 2560*1140.

Step 3. Upload your footage or photo from your internal storage by clicking on the logo below.

import footage to filmora

Step 4. Click on the “Template” tab at the top of the page and click “Game.” Browse the available templates till you see one you like.

filmora game templates

Step 5. Drag and drop the template you have chosen to the timeline as shown below.

drag game templates to timeline

Step 6. Replace the sample footage in the template by dragging and dropping your own footage into the timeline.

replace media clips filmora

Step 7. Customize the footage and change the settings until you are happy with the outcome. Edit the text using the tools provided in the platform.

edit text in filmora

Step 8. Take a screenshot of the final result.

take snapshot in filmora

Step 9. Specify the snapshot format and choose the storage location before saving a copy to your device.

snapshot window in filmora

Step 10. Once the snapshot appears in the Media Panel, right-click on it to open. Select “Reveal in Explorer” to locate the picture in your internal storage. You can now use the photo as your YouTube gaming banner.

reveal in explorer filmora

5 Websites for Gaming Banner Templates Your YouTube

Wondershare Filmora is not the only platform you can use to create banner templates for your YouTube channel. Here is a list of 5 more websites you can try and a detailed breakdown of the remarkable features you are bound to enjoy.

1. Canva

The first alternative to Filmora on our list is Canva, which has thousands of professional, ready-made designs to wow your audience. You can work alone or with a dedicated team to ensure you design only the best banner for your channel to attract the masses to the kind of content you create.

canva gaming templates

2. PosterMyWall

We couldn’t forget to include PosterMyWall to our list, which has pre-made templates you can customize to suit your needs. With PosterMyWall, you can save the time you could have used to design a banner from scratch to think of more content for your channel. The developers suggest various templates you might like, not to mention that you can sign up for free!

postermywall gaming templates

3. Freepik

Another suitable alternative to Filmora is Freepik. We guarantee you cannot exhaust all the numerous templates this platform offers. Each template is unique, with different color combinations and fonts to cater to the theme colors on your YouTube channel. You could opt for the free version or sign up for a Premium account and get 30% off.

freepik gameing template

4. Pickmaker

The fourth alternative on our list is Pickmaker, a sure way to take your gaming channel to the next level. The templates are arranged in broad categories to help you pick the best one based on the type of content you post. In addition, you don’t have to part with your precious monies to start designing YouTube banners with Pickmaker.

picmaker gaming banner template

5. Placeit

Last but definitely not least is Placeit, which contains picturesque templates fitting for a gaming YouTube channel. We guarantee your audience won’t resist clicking on your videos once you use any of the templates within this platform. All you need to do is create a free account to enjoy the perks. Placeit makes your work easier by allowing you to indicate your favorite templates for use later.

placeit gaming banner template

Conclusion

Gaming content is far from boring, and neither should your banner. Remember, your audience will judge you based on your banner, the first content they interact with before they click to watch your video.

The better you can design your banner, the higher your chances of growing an audience that supports you by watching your content regularly. Once you have created an enticing banner, all that’s left is to ensure you have the content to match.

6 Proven Techniques to Elevate Your YouTube Engagement and Reduce Churn

6 Ways To Increase Audience Retention on YouTube

author avatar

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?

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.

Download Win Version Download Mac Version

author avatar

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?

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.

Download Win Version Download Mac Version

author avatar

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?

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.

Download Win Version Download Mac Version

author avatar

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?

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.

Download Win Version Download Mac Version

author avatar

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Also read:

  • Title: Effortless Guide to Adding Banners on Gaming Channels
  • Author: Kevin
  • Created at : 2024-05-25 15:04:22
  • Updated at : 2024-05-26 15:04:22
  • Link: https://youtube-videos.techidaily.com/effortless-guide-to-adding-banners-on-gaming-channels/
  • License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
On this page
Effortless Guide to Adding Banners on Gaming Channels