Did you know that YouTube is the most popular video-sharing platform on the planet and is second only to Google as the most visited website?

Millions of people use it every day to watch videos, share their thoughts, and learn new things. YouTube offers a wealth of data that can help you understand your audience better, measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, and make strategic decisions about future growth. In this blog, we will go through some key YouTube KPIs that can help you with all these goals.

According to Hootsuite, the platform has close to two billion monthly viewers. Capturing even 0.01% percent can help your channel gain significant popularity.

Video marketing through YouTube has become a go-to strategy for marketers nowadays.

But the tricky step comes next: tracking the performance of your uploaded video to gather insights. After all, you need to know what type of content works and what does not. This is where YouTube KPIs can help you.

Top YouTube KPIs to Measure the Success of Your Youtube Videos:

1. Watch Time

How long have they been watching my videos?

‍Watch time = Total watch time/ Total number of video plays

Watch time tracks the time a viewer spends watching your video. In simple words, this KPI helps you understand how well people are consuming your content. The KPI provides a detailed analysis of all the views on your channel. Simultaneously, you can also monitor the differences in watch times of individual videos to find outliers, track your progress, and update your content accordingly.

2. Total Video Views

‍How many people are accessing my content?

‍Total views are the total number of people who have come across your videos. This KPI, along with watch time, allows you to see how well you are leveraging the YouTube channel to make an impact and how well it is responding. If the total views and the watch time both show good numbers, then it means that your content is engaging enough. But where your total number of views is significantly high while the watch time is less, showing viewers watched your video but stopped in between and did not complete it. It is a sign that your content needs improvement.Tracking this KPI along with the “average watch time” KPI shows you why the video gained views but did not captivate the attention for long.

3. Subscriber Growth

‍Who all follow my content regularly?

‍Growth in subscribers = (Number of subscribers at present date – Number of subscribers at a past date) *100 / Number of subscribers at a past dateThis is one of the most important KPIs for YouTube. It indicates how many subscribers you have gained or lost over a specific period. Subscribers to your channel show viewers are interested in what you have to say. It’s a sign of appreciation from your viewers who enjoy your content.Tracking this KPI also gives you a peek into the future. If you have a higher number of subscribers, there is a high likelihood that the engagement with your content will also be much higher.

4. CTR

‍Is my content getting clicks?

‍CTR = (Clicks /Impressions)*100

The click-through rate or CTR  shows how many people clicked on your video after seeing it in their YouTube recommendation section, homepage, or trending section. If the CTR is high, YouTube receives a signal that the video has a larger audience and therefore ranks it higher in the recommended section. Higher CTR signifies that your content is compelling to a large audience base. A neat trick to increase the  CTR on YouTube is by:

• Creating unique and informative titles
• Creating eye-catching graphics for  thumbnails

Also read, Instagram Metrics: How to Get the Most Out Of Your Online Presence.

‍5. Video Engagement

‍How is the audience reacting to my videos?

‍The KPI counts the total reactions on your video. It shows how well your audience interacts with your content by looking at how many likes, dislikes, comments, and shares it received. This is an important metric to understand how well your video is getting accepted by your target audience.Engagement data provides fodder for future video content ideas for many content creators. When a video receives many dislikes, it is a big red flag. However, you can use the comments to better gauge why there was such a strong negative reaction, and use the positive responses to determine what kind of content your viewers enjoy.

6. Average View Duration

‍How long is my video able to hold a viewer’s attention?

‍Average view duration is one of the most important metrics for YouTube. It tells you the average time people spent watching your videos.If a user watches your videos only halfway through, it means they don’t find them useful or engaging. This, in turn, decreases the average view duration. With this KPI, you can assess factors like:

• Is your content too boring?
• Is the video too long?
• Is the quality poor?
• Is the information not relevant?

Aim at keeping this KPI high by creating quality content. To summarize, if the average view duration increases, YouTube ranks you higher on the search and increases your visibility on the recommendations page.

7. Traffic Source

‍Which source channel is helping me the most?

‍The KPI provides a detailed report on the different sources that direct traffic to your videos. These sources include social media postings, recommendation sections, organic searches, etc. Use this metric to know which source brought the highest views to each of your videos. The KPI is useful for optimizing your marketing strategy and helps you focus on those areas that drive traffic to your channel. Make Every Effort Count by Optimizing Your Youtube Channel with INSIA

While YouTube Analytics gives you a general picture about your data through KPIs such as subscriber growth, views and video engagement metrics, it is limited in what it can do for you. Optimize your YouTube channel by integrating it with INSIA’s advanced AI-powered, self-serve analytics software. Create and customize unlimited dashboards that are suited to your needs.

A robust business intelligence tool like INSIA can help your channel to its full potential. INSIA is designed for non-technical business users that integrates your data from multiple sources (like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Excel, MySQL, and many more) and lets you create visually appealing reports through a Google-like search bar.

Connect to INSIA in a couple of clicks and watch your YouTube channel grow with pre-built plug-n-play KPIs and automated dashboards. ‍

‍With over 92% of internet users spending time on YouTube every week, you should definitely consider YouTube to be in your next marketing plan. With video becoming the most popular form of communication nowadays, tracking and analyzing how people receive your content will be of utmost importance in the future. First, start using data to define your social media strategy, and the only way you can do it is by tracking the above-mentioned KPIs and using the insights to make better decisions.

Now measure the success of your YouTube videos with these top KPIs with confidence!