I have already done an article on how you can start a YouTube channel business in Zimbabwe. The prospects are infinite and I highly recommend you to consider starting such a business. I know some of you could already be running YouTube channels and have an idea of the ins and outs. Regardless, there could some things you are yet to fully appreciate. That is why today I am discussing 5 YouTube metrics that are essential to the growth of your channel. This will also benefit those who will in due course start their own YouTube channels.
Views
This one is the most obvious I suppose. The thrust of this one is to figure out which videos are doing quite well. When a video did or is doing well it simply means there is something there you must pay attention to. You will get an idea of what your audience loves the most. You must always closely analyse videos that do well so that you get a hang of why. Once you get the why you can then use those insights to increase the chances of other videos doing well.
Watch Time
This is a measure of how long people typically spend on your videos. Ideally, you want people to stay for long on your videos. This is strategic to the performance and subsequent growth of your channel. When people stay for long on a video, the YouTube algorithm assumes that the relevance of your video is high. This causes the algorithm to recommend the video more. That way the likelihood of it being viewed more goes up.
Watch Time Velocity
This refers to how quickly or not people click on your video after you post it. The core focus of your attention is the first 24 hours which YouTube provides useful data analytics for. Again, if more people are clicking sooner as in within 24 hours or less, the video gets recommended more. The data insights provided here also give you an idea of the ideal time to post especially when you compare it with your other videos. You also enjoy the convenience of getting a comparison of your current video relative to others you have posted before. Essentially, the current video will be ranked and compared to 9 videos from before. For instance, you can get to see how many views a past video had 2 hours after being posted, in comparison to the latest video. That way you can draw insights or even get a feel of how a video will perform.
Traffic Sources
This is another important metric you must always study. This deals with where your views are coming from. Examples of traffic sources are Facebook, Google Searches, Suggested Videos, WhatsApp, and so on. This will give you a picture of how your videos are being discovered. This will help you strategize on how and where to focus your efforts in making your videos discoverable. This even tells you that once you post a video you must publicize it on various platforms; even starting from the premiere itself.
Key Moments For Audience Retention
This helps you see which parts of your videos where you were able to keep your audience engaged the longest. You will get to see where attention spiked or dipped. Upon closer inspection, this helps you know what you should work on in putting together your videos. For instance, if there is a dip during the time you were sharing a joke that might mean you should go less on jokes. For example, there could longer retention when you were narrating a real-life story or example. That can give you an idea that your audience loves such kinds of things. There is a lot you can learn just by studying the key moments for audience retention graphs.
Regularly taking a look at these 5 metrics will help inform your strategy formulation. I know there are many more metrics that YouTube provides free and comprehensive data analytics on (on your dashboard). I just chose these 5 because I strongly feel they are directly pivotal to channel growth. Creating and putting out YouTube videos, is both an art and a science, so being empirical about it by paying attention to metrics is the key to success.
