Do you have a channel on YouTube?
Are you looking for strategies to entice viewers to stay on your show for longer?
By fine-tuning the way your YouTube videos are laid out, you may boost the amount of views your channel receives while also providing longer viewing periods.
You’ll learn four techniques to boost your YouTube watch time in this post.
#1 Find out how many hours you’ve been watching
Finding out what your watch time is is the first step toward improving it. Log into YouTube and open your Creator Studio to get started.
Change the view to “the last 365 days” at the bottom of the chart that emerges by clicking on “analytics” in the left hand menu.
This will tell you 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.
#2 Post at the Appropriate Moment
Giving your video the best possibility of appearing in search results is one of the best strategies to maximise watch time. After all, more views equals more time spent watching!
More information can be found in our piece about 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 (8pm).
Consider posting a little sooner on weekends, as well as on days when Internet traffic is normally higher — that is, post later in the week and avoid Mondays!
#3 Make use of playlists
Did you know that people don’t have to watch YOUR video in order for you to get more views?
No, no, no.
In reality, if a viewer starts watching your video and then continues to watch a playlist, it doesn’t matter whether the subsequent videos are from other people; you’ll still get credited for that time spent watching.
To take advantage of this feature, make sure all of your videos are in playlists, and if you enjoy hanging around on YouTube, spend some time making PlayLists that include other people’s videos alongside your own.
#4 Inform people about what they can expect
People scrolling away because the video material isn’t what they expected is one of the most common reasons for low YouTube video watch time. You might assume that a click-bait title and thumbnail are great for increasing views (and they can be), but they’re terrible for viewing time. It’s pointless to have 10,000 views on a video if 9,900 of those people only watched for five seconds.
In this case, our best suggestion is to make sure your title, image, and description appropriately reflect the content of the movie. Your total views may decrease, but your total watch time (a far more relevant number) will increase.
Final Thoughts: How to Increase the Time You Spend Watching Videos on YouTube
There’s a distinction between having a presence and having a valuable presence on any social media network. You must put in the effort to connect and engage with your audience in a meaningful way (i.e., in a way that generates income for clients).
YouTube, in particular, necessitates a significant investment of time and resources in order to create high-quality video that will connect with your target audience.
Take the time to educate your clients on what you both need to do to be successful before digging in. This level of forethought and communication will save you time and hassles in the long run.
