Increase YouTube watch time: Do you have a channel on YouTube? Are you looking for methods to get people to stay on your show for longer? By fine-tuning the way your YouTube videos are laid out, you may improve the number of views your channel receives while also providing longer viewing periods.
You can track a variety of data on YouTube, including video views, impressions, and click-through rates. However, one statistic, in particular, should be given top priority: YouTube watch time.
Getting 4000 watch hours on YouTube is one of the key criteria for the YPP, and many people wonder how to obtain 4000 watch hours on YouTube. Reaching this goal is frequently the first significant achievement that each beginner to YouTube hopes to achieve.
Videos that are popular on YouTube are more likely to appear in search results or recommendations as a result of their popularity. And one such important aspect, which decides this, is YouTube Watch Time; if you are looking for some tricks or ways or methods to increase your YouTube watch, then you made it to the right place.
Here you can learn more about the value of YouTube watch time and how it may make you step out in the YouTube industry, as well as 14 tips to help you get started.
What is YouTube Watch Time?
Prior to October 2012, the total number of views was YouTube’s key criterion for video ranking. However, when YouTube’s algorithm was changed later that month, view time became the most important ranking element.
The entire amount of time visitors spend watching your videos (also known as audience retention in YouTube statistics) is known as watch time. Videos that rank first in this category should, in theory, result in more overall viewing sessions.
YouTube is more likely to promote your channel through search and suggested videos if you increase your watch time, which leads to more views. This is what a YouTube Watch Time means.
What Counts As A Video Watch Time?
Understanding what counts as view hours is critical for anybody wanting to operate on the YouTube platform. This is due to the fact that not all of the material on the site is created equal.
Only PUBLIC watch time is counted as watch time on YouTube. If the privacy of your video material is set to unlisted or private, here is what it implies. Even if such films acquire a million hours of viewing, they will not be counted as part of the total. Consideration of this technique is very important when new YouTubers start uploading any content.
Would a popular video from two years ago, for example, count towards your view time? No, that is not the case. This is because 4,000 watch hours does not equal the entire amount of time viewers watched over a channel’s existence.
YouTube has a changing time frame for its watch hour and will only examine the last 365 days from the date in question. This makes achieving the target of 4000 YouTube viewing hours a little more challenging.
YouTubers, on the other hand, just need to reach 4,000 hours once. After that, you will be eligible for monetization if you have 1000 subscribers. It doesn’t matter how many watch hours you acquire once you’ve been approved for monetization.
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Why 4,000 Hours of YouTube Watch Time Important?
With that out of the way, let’s get into the appropriate frame of mind. This is something I regularly discuss with creators who are pursuing similar objectives. The majority of people that start a YouTube channel with the goal of achieving 4,000 hours of Watch Time and 1,000 subscribers will never make it. To succeed on YouTube, you need more than just a desire to make money.
It’s here what you are searching for:
- You’re focusing far too much on yourself rather than your viewers.
- It’s far too lofty a goal to set for yourself when you initially join YouTube.
Four thousand hours is a significant amount of time. That’s 240,000 minutes or 166.6 days of continuous viewing of your material by a single person. You should feel pleased with yourself if your first YouTube video receives an hour of Watch Time.
YouTube needs as much information as possible from your content in order to trust you with its ad partners. It’s important to note that it’s the marketers, not YouTube, that pay you directly. In this scenario, YouTube acts as a mediator and must ensure that your material is devoid of controversy.
14 Best Ways to Increase YouTube Watch Time
Here are some of the best ways we recommend for the newbies of YPP (YouTube Partner Programmer); these are pretty simple and easy to follow. So let’s begin.
#1 Keep A Record Of Your YouTube Analytics
For each video you publish to your YouTube channel, you should keep an eye on the Audience Retention report. This will allow you to see whether there are any noticeable trends in terms of audience viewing drop-offs.
If, for example, a substantial portion of your readership drops off within the first 30 seconds of each video, you might want to reconsider your introductions.
The Audience Retention report fundamentally aids you in avoiding assumptions and focusing on content and production concerns more efficiently.
- To get a copy of the Audience Retention report, go to:
- Enter your YouTube username and password.
- Go to your YouTube Studio page.
- From the Videos tab, choose a certain video.
- Select the Analytics option.
- Select the Engagement option.
You can use a Cyfe YouTube dashboard along with YouTube’s native statistics to communicate your YouTube performance with your team. You can track all of your analytics, including YouTube watch time duration and average view %, using a Cyfe dashboard.
See Also: 5 Ways to Make Your YouTube Look Good
#2 Using Long Tail Keywords For Creating Youtube Content
Targeting long-tail keywords on YouTube is another approach to generate more traffic to your videos and improve view time (after you’ve implemented the preceding suggestions). There are a variety of techniques to get long-tail keywords for your content, but one of the most straightforward is to scan YouTube.
Let’s put “how to install a WordPress plugin” into the search field. The recommended results are content-related long-tail keyword suggestions.
HOW TO INCREASE YOUTUBE WATCH TIME – 14 BEST WAYS
One may develop customized, speciality content instead of general material for the keyword “how to install a WordPress plugin” if he pays attention to the results. The broader your keywords are, the less likely you are to rank high in search results.
Do not lose sight of the fact that YouTube isn’t just giving you random ideas for long-tail keywords. These video subject choices are based on the real interests of viewers.
You may improve your watch time by looking at your rivals’ material in addition to generating content focused on long-tail keywords. What are the keywords they’re using? Is there a way for you to give a distinct perspective through your content?
#3 Posting At The Absolute Right Time (Peak Time)
Giving your video the highest possibility of appearing in search results is one of the best methods to boost view time. After all, more views equal more time spent watching!
More information can be found in our piece on When to Post on YouTube, but in a nutshell, we recommend posting throughout the week around mid-afternoon to allow your video to be indexed before peak watching hours (8 pm). Consider publishing a bit sooner on weekends, as well as on days when Internet traffic is typically greater — that is, post later in the week and avoid Mondays!
#4 Find Out The Watch Time Of Your Watched Videos
Finding out what your watch time is the first step in improving it. Log into YouTube and open your Creator Studio to get started. Change the view to “the past 365 days” at the bottom of the chart that displays after clicking on “analytics” in the left-hand menu.
This will give you an idea about how many minutes people watched your videos for the entire time period. Your 4,000-hour goal is the same as 240,000 minutes. Congratulations if you’ve gotten that far! If not, you’ll want to start looking for ways to extend your watch time. Here are a few of our recommendations.
#5 Quality Video Content Matters The Most
Every minute, around 500 watching hours of videos are posted to YouTube all over the world. This equates to 9 hours of material being produced per second. The battle for attention is tough, and only high-quality material can stand out. Always keep in mind that quality reigns supreme.
Here are some suggestions for improving the quality of your material.
- Invest in top-notch equipment.
- The bulk of YouTube filmmakers uses their phones to shoot low-quality, grainy films with poor sound and lighting. Invest in a high-quality camera, a high-speed computer for editing, and good lighting and sound equipment to be ahead of such YouTubers.
- Professional performers, props, and voice-over artists should all be considered.
- Having the best hardware, such as cameras and an editing studio, is great, but failing to add a human touch to your film can ruin it.
- Consider a high-definition professional video with muddled props and a mute presenter. Isn’t that a turn-off? Nobody would want to see a video like that.
- Instead of editing on YouTube’s platform, use video editing tools and export directly to YouTube.
- During the uploading step, YouTube provides a number of choices for improving video quality.
- The YouTube help section is chock-full of tips for improving the image quality of your video.
- You may also cut and arrange your video into segments while editing. This allows you to film the video in portions rather than all at once. This improves and streamlines your editing process.
- Continually change camera angles and locations. This adds variety and flavour to your movie, making it more interesting.
- Video editing software is more flexible and produces better results.
- If you want to keep your audience’s attention from beginning to end, you must be unique and engaging.
- Using the transition effect between distinct scenes while editing a movie with multiple moving components is a smart idea.
- If you require props, use professional actors to prevent humiliation and lower bounce rates.
- If you don’t have a strong voice or lack confidence, you should hire a professional voice-over artist.
- When editing and uploading your videos, make use of YouTube’s on-site video enhancing capabilities.
- In your videos, use transitions and effects.
- Effects are important throughout the film and assist in distinguishing your material.
Check It Also: How To Make Money On YouTube? Step by Step Guide
#6 Write The Best Relevant Youtube Titles And Thumbnails
The cues that guide users to your content are titles and thumbnails. They offer the audience a notion of the content of your video. It’s a good idea to use your video’s title and thumbnail to express your channel’s brand and fundamental values.
Do the following to improve your YouTube thumbnails.
- Because utilizing false pictures will be detrimental to your final aim, create clear, beautiful, and captivating videos for your thumbnails that correctly reflect your video content.
- Make sure your thumbnails are both desktop and mobile-friendly and that they meet the needs of this industry.
- Use picture editing tools to make your thumbnail image more aesthetically attractive and stand out.
Your video title has a big impact on how many people subscribe to your channel and how long they watch it.
To improve the quality of your movie titles, follow these guidelines:
- Use target keywords in your title and organically include them.
- Use descriptive names that accurately communicate the topic of your film.
- Avoid names that over-promise or mislead; titles that over-promise or mislead are not appropriate for your channel.
- Make use of long-tail keywords in your content.
#7 Use Youtube Cards For Keeping Viewers Engaged
Here are some best practices for YouTube cards. Cards are ideal for new videos since they boost audience engagement. Include cards in related videos that link to newer material. When viewer engagement drops, use cards. Check your retention report for engagement troughs and make a note of them.
This is the point at which most people will quit viewing your video. Add a card that brings your readers back to your content at the precise moment. Increase the time spent watching videos with good audience retention numbers.
This may be accomplished by utilizing cards to guide visitors to these high-performing films. At the end of your videos, cards work great. YouTube recommends adding your cards in the last 20% of your video since it enhances the user experience by eliminating distractions.
To advertise your cards:
- The majority of individuals overlook cards or fail to respond soon enough. Consider informing them about your cards or directing them to your card with bodily movements such as pointing.
#8 Optimization Of Youtube Videos – Make It Right
The odds are stacked against you when you launch a new YouTube channel.
Because YouTube doesn’t know enough about you, your channel, your videos, and who might be interested in viewing them, it won’t promote them to new people at first, and your channel won’t develop organically.
The good news is that you can avoid this by optimizing your videos for YouTube search. You’ll need to choose video themes that a lot of people are looking for on YouTube, with a few competing films showing up in the search results.
Make a customized video for a phrase with high search traffic and minimal competition after you’ve found it. Improve your video title, description, and keywords for YouTube SEO.
YouTube SEO is one of the most potent methods for increasing your website’s click-through rate.
Your video will appear on page one of YouTube’s search results for your selected keyword if there are only 5 videos on topic X, including yours.
#9 Create The End Screens For Videos
If someone likes your video from beginning to end, invite them to see some of your other videos on your video end displays. In the last 20 seconds of your videos, you may add up to four videos and playlists that viewers can watch with a simple click. I recommend bulk-replacing your video end screens with your most popular videos.
#10 Create Lengthy Videos
To achieve the same total watch time as a longer film with less number of viewers, shorter videos are required. Longer films can be more tailored to your specialized demographic while still achieving the watch time that YouTube’s algorithm prefers.
Longer videos usually seem to beat shorter ones when I search for “social media strategy”: Consider extending any of your existing short films that aren’t doing well. Make those small movies private, or delete them after you’ve published the big video.
#11 Add Playlists To The Channel
At the very least, every YouTube channel should include a playlist! Make one for all of your videos first, and then add all of your public videos to it!
The concept behind playlists is that they provide a really simple method for users to consume your material in bulk. For all of my LinkedIn and YouTube training videos, I also build many topic-specific playlists.
#12 Go Live On Youtube At Least Once In A While
We’ve already discussed the value of lengthier videos. To get the same number of watch hours with lengthier films, you’ll need a significantly smaller number of viewers. That’s typically a good thing because you don’t have your first 1,000 subscribers yet.
I propose making videos that are 10-15 minutes long. However, if you truly want to increase your viewing duration, you’ll need to watch movies that are much longer.
There is a much easier method to bring your watch time up to speed unless you have the skill to make hour-long movies every week without burning out.
I recommend keeping to a regular schedule, such as every Saturday evening so that your visitors get into the habit of watching your live streams.
#13 Start With An Awesome Intro; It Really Matters
The first step is to pique your audience’s interest. Grab their attention quickly—this is something Google recommends as well. The first 15 seconds are crucial to making it happen.
The following is guidance from Google’s YouTube Playbook for Brands and Agencies:
- Make the initial frame aesthetically, personally, or with text engaging.
- Speak directly to the spectator rather than the entire crowd.
- Ask a question or do anything that will pique their interest.
- In a brief clip, show them what they may anticipate.
- Your viewers will be more likely to be glued to your material and continue to watch if you use the meatier sections of your video first.
- Make good on your commitment.
If people come to your video-based only on the title and thumbnail, make sure to provide them with at least some of what they expect right away.
Crouton Crackerjacks’ video is a great example of how to grab your audience’s attention in the first 15 seconds and keep them following a step-by-step guide.
#14 Try To Collaborate With Your Fellow Content Creators
To convey their tales, collaborate with like-minded people who share your brand’s vision and mission. By collaborating, you may attract people who might otherwise visit your partners’ video channels, grow your audience, and improve your view time.
These engagements should be seen as collaborations rather than influencer marketing. The latter is all about increasing the number of people who see a product or service. Collaborations with guests are more likely to foster a sense of shared values of authenticity.
Read More: How To Get The Most Out Of Your Google Ads On A Budget – Affordable Google Ads Management Services?
Frequently Asked Questions – About YouTube Watch Time
There are many FAQs regarding YouTube Watch Time and YPP that always wander in many minds. We were able to place a few here; I hope these will resolve your queries too!
What Is A Good Youtube Watch Time?
Depending on your specialty or business, the typical YouTube watch time varies. It may even be determined by your brand. To give you an idea, the average YouTube watch time for those 18 and up is 41.9 minutes each day (Source: Hootsuite). Meanwhile, YouTube seeks a 50% viewer retention rate.
How To Track Your Youtube Watch Time?
If you wish to keep track of your Watch Time hours, the YouTube Studio includes a dedicated tab called Monetization on the left-hand navigation panel. This will display your subscription information as well as your Watch Time progress.
Download VidIQ instead if you want to keep track of your Watch Time, subscribers, and other channel metrics. You’ll be given this fantastic real-time statistics bar. There’s nothing to worry about the price as it is totally free.
How To Analyze Youtube Data To Understand Youtube Watch Time?
At your peril, disregard YouTube’s stats. If you didn’t know, there is a data funnel of impressions, click-through rates, and Watch Time numbers under the Reach tab of the Analytics dashboard in YouTube Studio.
If you hover your cursor over the information symbol, YouTube will tell you that raising your click-through rate and Watch Time will enhance your chances of YouTube promoting your material.
When it comes to Watch Time, you can dig deep into each video by examining audience retention. This may be done via YouTube Studio’s Content dashboard.
Of course, you want to achieve the highest possible Watch Time. While there is no magic Watch Time percentage, if you’re constantly getting above 50%, you’re doing well. People generally stop watching videos because they’re bored or don’t get what the title promises.
You can see where you could have pain spots in the graph above. Perhaps your introduction is excessively long, and viewers lose interest before you even begin.
Check your audience retention on the past five to ten videos every now and again to see whether there is a regular trend in viewership.
While we’re on the subject of Watch Time, avoid the temptation to make lengthier films in order to attain 4,000 hours. Make the video as long as your target audience requires.
For example, we can’t produce a 20-minute video explaining how to remove a YouTube video. But we can make a three-minute video that delivers to the audience precisely what they want in a bite-sized format. Additionally, it sends good signals to YouTube and propels our material to the top of the search results.
What Counts As The Youtube Watch Time?
The hours someone watched your video content online counts as YouTube watch time. To make it more clear, only the videos which you have made public can get you to watch time.
If Someone Watches The Content In Offline Mode By Saving It, Will It Count As Watch Time?
Well, unfortunately, NO! It won’t count at all! People should use their data to watch the content online; only then does it count.
If I Made A Video 2 Or 3 Years Back And It Got 4000 Watch Hours, Will It Help To Monetize My Channel?
No! It won’t get counted as the watch time! As YouTube has a time tenure of 365 days for calculating the 4000 watch hours.
How Many Videos Should I Post On An Average To Get The 4000 Hours Of Watch Time?
This question doesn’t have a particular answer! Because it depends on the length of the video, the number of people it reached, and how long they watched it..! However, we recommend publishing at least a single video each day and giving it a try for up to a month; as said, hard work is the key to success!
Must Read: A Quick Analysis of Google Ads Trends by Google Advertising Professional – Mithvin
Final Thoughts
Well, that being said! It brings us to the end of our post! Hope you have learned how to increase your YouTube Watch time. You may also be interested in how to make money on YouTube, have a visit, and with the knowledge of these two posts and your hard work, I can guarantee that you can make some bucks.
Many of the tips and tricks discussed here will work for some individuals and may not work for others. Applying a handful at a time and checking your outcomes with the YouTube analytics tool is the best way to go. This will help you figure out what works and what doesn’t. Keep in mind that obtaining 4000 watch hours is a challenging feat that will always need more effort on the side of the makers.
