YouTube Studio analytics basics

You can monitor the performance of your channel and videos with up-to-date metrics and reports in YouTube Analytics.

Get to YouTube Analytics

  1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
  2. From the left menu, select Analytics.

Within YouTube Analytics, you’ll see different tabs. Apart from the overview tab, each tab is tailored to help you see data that’s most relevant to your goals. 

 

Overview

The Overview tab shows you key metrics for your channel. The main graph shows watch time, views, and subscribers. If you’re in the YouTube Partner Program, you’ll also see your estimated revenue over the last 28 days.

In this tab you’ll also see 4 reports:

  • Top videos: Your videos ranked by views.
  • Realtime activity: Your performance over the last 48 hours or 60 minutes.
  • Latest videos: Your performance from your 10 latest videos.
  • Typical performance: A comparison of your latest video to your channel’s typical performance.

Note: You’ll only see these reports if your public videos or channel has enough data.

Reach
The Reach tab shows you your music's overall reach. The main graph shows how many people saw an impression of your videos or videos containing all or most of your song across YouTube, and how many people then clicked through to watch the videos. 
In this tab you’ll also see reports for:
Engagement
The Engagement tab shows you what your viewers are watching. The main graph shows you the total number of watch minutes, and on average, how long viewers spent watching one of the videos. 
In this tab you’ll also see cards for:
Audience
The Audience tab shows you who’s watching. The main graph shows your returning & new viewers, unique viewers, and subscribers. 
In this tab you’ll also see reports for:
  • Top geographies: Your audience by geography. Data is based on IP address.
  • Top subtitle/CC languages: Your audience by subtitled language. Data is based on usage of subtitles/CC.
  • Age and gender: Your audience by age and gender. Data is based on signed in viewers across all devices.
  • When your viewers are on YouTube: Your audience’s online activity across your channel and all of YouTube. Data is based on your viewers across all devices in the last 28 days.
  • Other videos your audience watched: Your audience's online activity outside of your channel. Data is based on your viewers across all devices in the last 7 days.
  • Other channels your audience watched: Your audience’s online activity across other channels on YouTube. Data is based on your viewers across all devices in the last 28 days.

Note that you may only see demographics data for a subset of your viewers. The data may not represent the overall composition of your traffic.

Revenue
The Revenue tab is only available to creators in the YouTube Partner Program  and will show data only for videos uploaded by you. 
 
The Revenue tab helps you track your earnings on YouTube. The main graph shows how much you’re estimated to earn, the number of videos that are monetized, and your estimated average gross revenue per thousand plays. 
In this tab you’ll also see reports for:
  • Monthly estimated revenue: How much your channel has earned in the last 6 months. For ongoing months and months without finalized payments, revenue is estimated and subject to change. 
  • Top-earning videos: Videos with the highest estimated revenue for the time period.
  • Revenue sources: How you’re making money with YouTube.
  • Ad types: The format of the ad and its buying platform. This breakdown is only available for YouTube ad revenue and impression-based metrics.
  • Transaction revenue: Estimated net revenue from transactions, such as paid content and Super Chat, deducting any partner charged refunds for the selected date range and region.

See an example

View the following video from the YouTube Creators channel on YouTube Studio Analytics basics.

Analytics in YouTube Studio

 

Show more data in YouTube Analytics

 

Expand a report

You can click SEE MORE or ADVANCED MODE on almost any report in YouTube Analytics to expand it to full screen. The full screen view will give you a more in-depth look at your data over time.

You can change the metric you’re viewing in the chart by using the drop down in the top left. You can also select the blue plus icon  to add additional metrics to your report, such as views or watch times.

Use the esc key or select close  to leave an expanded report.

Line chart

Line charts show how your video data has changed over time. You can customize the following options:
  • Date granularity: Charts can be displayed with data points in daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly increments.
  • Compare metric: Select a second metric for comparison, which will be displayed on the graph.

Bar chart

You can use a bar chart to display the data you choose in horizontal bars that represent their values by length. If you select the date as a dimension, the bar chart will show as a line graph.
Note: It’s not possible to see the date dimension or to compare the selected data to the totals.

See analytics at the video level

YouTube Analytics will show different reports when you’re viewing a specific video. To open YouTube Analytics for a specific video:

  1. From the left menu, select Videos.
  2. Click a video title or thumbnail.
  3. From the left menu, select Analytics.

Additional ways to see video analytics

  1. After you click to expand a report, click your channel name in the top left corner. You’ll see a search box appear where you can select a specific video.
  2. After you click to expand a report, hover over any video title and select Analytics . 
  3. Additional analytics icons at the channel level takes you to that particular video’s analytics.

Get more specific data

Once you’ve clicked SEE MORE to expand a card, you’ll see additional options that give you more data.

  • See more detail for an individual row: Rows in your report written in blue text can be clicked to see more detailed data. For instance, if you’re viewing traffic sources, you can click results like “YouTube search” to see which specific searches led to traffic on your channel.
  • Filter data: Each expanded report has a filter bar at the top. You can filter by things like viewer geography or live vs. on-demand videos.
  • Select different dimensions: Dimensions like geography and device type appear below the filter bar once you’ve expanded a report.
  • Add metrics: Use the blue plus button  to add additional metrics to your report.

Compare performance

There are various ways to compare the performance of your videos.

  • Direct comparison: After you’ve clicked SEE MORE to expand a report, select Compare to... to compare two items. You can compare any combination of your channel, your groups, or specific videos. Once comparing two items, you can also compare their data for different timeframes, different dimensions, different metrics, etc.
  • Suggested comparisons: Period-over-Period shows your channel’s short-term growth and Year-over-year shows your channel’s long-term growth. 
  • Comparison lines: When viewing analytics for a specific video, you’ll automatically see comparison lines on key metrics reports if the date range is set to “Since published”. This compares the performance of your most recently uploaded video to your typical performance.
  • Multi-line charts: After you’ve clicked SEE MORE to expand a report, you can check the boxes next to individual items in the report. Each item checked will have a corresponding line in the report. The “total” row is selected by default.

Export data

You can view up to 50 rows of data in YouTube Studio. To see up to 500 rows, you can use the export feature  to download a report. Learn how to export data from YouTube Analytics.

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