Understand limited data in YouTube Analytics

We want to give creators useful data to make informed decisions about their channel, but some data may be limited in YouTube Analytics when metrics do not meet a certain threshold. This can happen to a variety of reports that might not contain all or any of your data.

Note: You may see different metrics in YouTube Analytics based on the platform - YouTube Studio on a computer, or the YouTube Studio app.

Limited traffic during a specified time period

If your video or channel doesn’t have enough traffic during a selected time period. A message in Analytics lets you know that you can't access the full report, such as, "Not enough demographic data."

Limited data due to selected filter or dimension

If you've selected a specific filter or dimension, such as geography or gender for which values do not meet a certain threshold. In cases when data is limited, there may be a difference between the totals reported in different reports depending on how those reports aggregate data. This shows a difference between the “Total” for a report or card and the sum of its individual rows. The occurrence happens when a row of data is not available, but still included in the total for an accurate count. You’ll see a note at the bottom of the table that only the top results are available.

If you want to see more, try extending the time period, or removing filters and breakdowns. Changing these settings may increase the amount of data in the full report.

Example on limited data

For example, suppose you use Advanced Mode in YouTube Studio to open the geography report to see the total views for a video on a country-by-country basis. During the specified time period, assume that the video was viewed 1000 times, where 500 of the views occurred in the United States, 498 views occurred in Canada, and two views occurred in France.

In this example, the total row would show that the video was viewed 1000 times. The other rows would indicate that the video was only viewed 500 times in the United States and viewed 498 times in Canada. As such, there would be a difference between the total view counts and the sum of the rows. The county-by-county list would not show that the two other views had also occurred or that any views had occurred in France.

Note: The actual thresholds at which data is limited are not published and subject to change at YouTube's discretion.

Types of limited data

The following info may be limited:

Demographics data

Demographics data, such as age and gender, may be limited in YouTube Analytics. For instance, you may see a message while viewing demographics metrics for an individual video or country if there isn’t enough data to display.

You won’t see demographics data for private or unlisted videos, regardless of the amount of traffic on your channel.

Audience data

You may see limited audience data in YouTube Analytics if:

• Your channel doesn’t have enough relevant data to display.
• Your audience is watching Made for Kids content.
• The content violates our Community Guidelines.

Geography data

Metrics or dimensions related to countries or regions where viewers were located may be limited. However, revenue data by geography is not limited.

You won’t see any geography data for the following, regardless of the amount of traffic on your channel:

• Realtime reports
• Private or unlisted videos

Search terms and URLs

You may see limited data for search terms and external URLs on the traffic sources, playback locations, and subscriber sources reports. For instance, one-off search terms and URLs that drive little traffic may not show. You’ll still see the ones that commonly lead viewers to your content.