Gain More Loyal Viewers: Unlock Top Strategies for Enhancing Viewer Retention 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.

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.

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Synchronize Content Releases with Audience Activity Cycles

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Creators have one thing in mind when posting their content online. To be viewed by numerous followers and potential subscribers. For this, you need to run your channels tactfully. There are days when people throng the social media to watch upcoming content and videos. Perhaps you can make your best bets on such days. And is there any best day to post YouTube video?

Probably yes! People will settle on social media sites when they are more relaxed and off heavy duties on the weekdays. Let’s now dive into posting your videos and attaining some good leads.

Why is it important to post your YouTube video on the best days?

You are better off with best days to post on YouTube to increase the chances of getting more views. You want to make the biggest catch, and putting in a little effort will help you yield good results.

1) Your content never dies

The major advantage of posting on best days is that they hit the wall right from the onset of posting. You won’t need a lot of time to invest in expensive equipment. Remember, when viewers see your content immediately, they are posted, there are high chances of them sharing along with friends.

2) You’ll grow your audience worldwide

Growing a worldwide audience is every content creator’s dream. Posting your videos on the best days will open doors to new visitors who perhaps haven’t heard about you. It is even better to include captions so that people of all walks get your message deeply.

3) You’ll appear more on Google searches

Posting at the right time will help Google identify your content and make it appear on Google searches. Google uses an algorithm to check on many concepts of video posting. It means that posting your videos to YouTube on the best days will spike the graph and automatically get noticed by Google.

4) Your audience will promote you

Remember, when viewers go on searches, they look for something important to them. So, coming across your content at the right time will make an instant catch. They only want to fulfill their needs at that specific time. Hence will buy or promote you as long as what you sell is what they are looking for.

5) Increased subscribers

People want to associate themselves with new content. Anyone would be thrilled to hit the button on content that just popped up when they are online at their relaxed moments. You never know; you may just hit that 1,000 subscribers list by posting your videos on the best days.

Best Days to Post on YouTube - General Practices

How then do you know the best day to upload on YouTube? You can use general practices to pinpoint when your viewers are online or when your channel is at its peak.

- Weekday evenings

Weekdays are very busy days for everyone. People feel relaxed and ready to catch up on social media’s trending in the evening. So, posting in the evenings on weekdays may instantly help you get some increased views.

- Target Thursdays and Fridays

Depending on your YouTube content, you can target school-age children these days. If your content is about kid’s stuff and other online learning skills, then pushing it just before the weekend could give you some good visits. Kids tend to have various activities over the weekend and so, the best time for them to embark on online learning is just before the weekend kicks off.

- Weekends

Weekends will suit content that needs to sell products to the middle-class. Since they are busy the whole week with other duties, they probably find time over the weekend to chill and check out what’s happening around them and the world at large.

- End year

When it comes to the best months to post on YouTube, the end-year period tends to be the best. Usually, this is when companies and individuals are winding up on their busy schedules of the year. They want to get improvements and tips to start the next year. It is wise to spend more time online, giving the necessary tips and probably hooking up some potential customers.

Best Days to Post on YouTube - Individual channel

Stop guessing and find the facts right. Hitting on the road at the right time can get you as many viewers as possible. YouTube makes getting the facts right quite easy. Just use YouTube studio to know when your viewers are online.

First, go to YouTube Studio
Check in the “YouTube Studio” > “Analytics” > “Audience” option. Remember that your channel should have enough views for this option to give you relevant data.

Find the hours with the darkest purple bars
You’ll realize that there are dark bars and light ones. The latter represent when few viewers are on your channel. Avoid posting during such times and focus when you have many viewers on site. Also, try to post a few hours before the peak time.

Focus on the days with the darkest bars
Apart from specific times of the day, you can focus on days of the week when your viewers are on your channel. You will mostly realize that the best days of the week to post to your channel are on weekends. It is quite typical as it’s the days when viewers are more relaxed and can find new things online. However, you can monitor your statistics and learn the number of days per week you need to emphasize more on posting your videos.

Post videos a day before the peak day
You can also dwell on the narrative; the early bird catches the worm. You can make an early catch since you know the day when your viewers will throng’ your channel, but you don’t know the time. Post videos a day before your channel goes busy. By this, you won’t leave any viewers outside your new postings.

A few hours before prime time
Another trick is to get your videos posted in good time. Once you have known the best hour of the day when viewers are likely to be active, make your video available a few hours before then. They’ll then get it rolling once they land into the channel for the newest updates. If not, you may miss out on views you would have gotten by making your video go public earlier.

Upload your videos in private a few hours before publishing
Yes, mistakes do happen, and you don’t want to be caught up in the mix of errors. You can increase perfection by uploading your videos for some hours before publishing them. It will give you a good time to check it out privately and iron out any concerns. You don’t want your video going viral with tons of mishaps.

Create High-Quality Video with Filmora to Ensure Video Engagement

Besides knowing the best days to post on YouTube, you have to give your audience quality for their time. Composing the best video is the killer for this course. Learn how to get high-quality videos with Filmora. It is a widely used video editing tool that comes in hand with lots of templates and effects. These features enable you to compose high-end videos in 4K and HD resolution. The effect of quality videos is that they’ll help you get many views because users will understand your video first. Filmora has an intuitive interface that will give you an easy time.

Edit your videos with minimal effect. You can easily merge, crop, tilt, and perform more with Filmora.
Easily do motion tracking from the main interface.
It supports 4K and HD editing ability./li>
Use the speed control feature to make your clips up to ten times faster or slower.
Make magical moves with the Reverse feature. You can flip your videos and play them backward.
Create stunning video colors in your video using the color tuning feature. You can adjust the white balance and the dynamic range of colors.
Get quality sound with the noise removal feature.

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Conclusion

● You don’t have to guess the best days to upload to YouTube anymore. You can use YouTube algorithm Studio to calculate and give you the exact hours and days when your viewers are at bay. But again, this will only be effective if you have already gathered a substantial number of viewers. It will, therefore, not work for you if you are starting on YouTube. Usually, there isn’t enough data yet for the system to know the best time to publish, and neither know how your content performs in general.

● But all in all, you can use general practices to know when to post your content. Most likely, combine your efforts and don’t dwell on specific hours or days. Use both combined to reach as many audiences as possible.

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Probably yes! People will settle on social media sites when they are more relaxed and off heavy duties on the weekdays. Let’s now dive into posting your videos and attaining some good leads.