YouTube Analytics basics

You can use analytics to better understand your video and channel performance with key metrics and reports in YouTube Studio.

Note: Some data, such as geography, traffic sources, or gender, may be limited. Learn more about limited data in YouTube Analytics.

Analytics in YouTube Studio

Subscribe to the YouTube Creators channel for the latest news, updates, and tips.

Get to YouTube Analytics

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

You can also view various reports at the video level:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left menu, select Content.
3. Point to your video and select Analytics .

Note: You can click SEE MORE or ADVANCED MODE to view an expanded analytics report to get specific data, compare performance, and export data.

 

Learn about the tabs in YouTube Analytics

In YouTube Analytics, you can find different tabs that help you understand your data.

 

Note: Some reports may not be available on mobile devices.

Overview

The Overview tab shows you a summary of how your channel and videos are performing. The key metrics card shows your views, watch time, subscribers, and estimated revenue (if you’re in the YouTube Partner Program).

Note: You may get personalized overview reports that show comparisons to your typical performance. These insights explain why your views may be higher or lower than usual. In this tab, you also get reports for:

• Typical performance: At the channel level, it’s a comparison of your channel’s typical performance. At the video level, it’s a comparison of your video’s typical performance.
• Your top content in this period: Your content ranked by views over the last 28 days.
• Realtime: Your performance over the last 48 hours or 60 minutes.
• Stories: Your performance over the last 7 days from your latest Stories.

• Top remixed: Your content that has been used to make Shorts. This report also shows the number of times your content has been remixed and the number of remix views.

Note: At the video level, you can find key moments for audience retention and your Realtime report.

Content (channel level)

The Content tab gives you a summary of how your audience finds and interacts with your content and what content your audience watches. You can view the following reach and engagement reports within the All, Videos, Shorts, Live, and Posts tabs:

• Views: The number of legitimate views on your content for videos, Shorts, and live streams.
• Impressions and how they led to watch time: The number of times a thumbnail was shown to viewers on YouTube (impressions), how often those thumbnails resulted in a view (click-through rate), and how those views ultimately led to watch time.
• Published content: The number of videos, Shorts, live streams, and posts you’ve published on YouTube.
• How viewers found your content/videos/Shorts/live streams: How your viewers found your content.
• Subscribers: The number of subscribers that you gained from each content type: videos, Shorts, live streams, posts, and others. “Others” include subscriptions from YouTube search and your channel page.
• Key metrics card: A visual overview of your views, average view duration, impressions, impressions click-through rate, subscribers, likes, and shares.
• Key moments for audience retention: How different moments of your video held viewers' attention. You can also use typical retention to compare your 10 latest videos of similar length.
• Top videos/Shorts/posts: Your most popular videos, Shorts, and posts.
• Shown in feed: The number of times your Short is shown in the Shorts feed.
• Viewed (vs swiped away): The percentage of times viewers viewed your Shorts versus swiped away.
• Top remixed: A visual overview of your remix views, total remixes, and top remixed content.
• Post impressions: The number of times your post was shown to viewers.

Reach (video level)

The Reach tab gives you a summary of how your audience is discovering your channel. The key metrics card shows your impressions, impressions click-through-rate, views, and unique viewers.

In this tab, you also get reports for:

• Traffic source types: How viewers found your content.
• External: Traffic from websites and apps that embed or link to videos from your channel.
• Suggested videos: Traffic from suggestions that show next to or after other videos and from links in video descriptions. These videos could be your own videos or someone else's.
• Playlists: Traffic from the most-watched playlists that include your videos.
• Impressions and how they led to watch time: How many times your video’s thumbnails were shown to viewers on YouTube (Impressions), how often those thumbnails resulted in a view (Click-through rate), and how those views ultimately led to watch time.
• Bell notifications sent: The number of bell notifications sent to subscribers who get notifications from your channel.
• YouTube search: Traffic from search terms that brought viewers to your content.

Engagement (video level)

The Engagement tab gives you a summary of how long your audience is watching your videos. The key metrics card shows your watch time and average view duration.

In this tab, you also get reports for:

• Audience retention: How different moments of your video held viewers' attention. You can also use typical retention to compare your 10 latest videos of similar length.
• Likes (vs. dislikes): How viewers feel about your video.
• End screen element click rate: How often your viewers clicked an end screen element.
• Top tagged products: Products you tagged in your video that received the highest engagement.

Audience

The Audience tab gives you a summary of the sort of viewers watching your videos. The key metrics card shows your returning and new viewers, unique viewers, subscribers, and total members.

In this tab, you also get reports for:

• Videos growing your audience: Your audience’s online activity across your channel. Data is based on your new viewers across all devices in the last 90 days.
• 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.
• Subscriber bell notifications: How many of your subscribers get all notifications from your channel. The tab also shows how many can actually get those notifications based on their YouTube and device settings.
• Watch time from subscribers: Your audience’s watch time divided between non-subscribers and subscribers.
• Age and gender: Your audience by age and gender. Data is based on signed in viewers across all devices.
• Channels your audience watches: Your audience’s viewing activity across other channels on YouTube. Data is based on your viewers across all devices in the last 28 days.
• Content your audience watches: Your audience's viewing activity outside of your channel. If there's enough data, you can filter by Videos, Shorts, and Live. Data is based on your viewers across all devices in the last 7 days.
• 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 use of subtitles/CC.

Note: At the video level, you can find reports for watch time from subscribers, top geographies, top subtitle/CC languages, and age and gender.

Revenue

If you’re in the YouTube Partner Program, the Revenue tab helps you track your earnings on YouTube. The key metrics card shows your estimated revenue. Finalized earnings appear in YouTube Analytics once your payments are added to AdSense, typically between the 7th and 12th day of the following month. Learn more about Payment timelines for AdSense.

In this tab, you also get reports for:

• How much you're earning: How much your channel earned in the last 6 months.
• How you make money: How you’re making money with YouTube. Examples of revenue sources include Watch Page ads, Fan funding, and Shorts Feed ads.
• Fan funding: Estimated net revenue from fan funding products, like channel memberships, Super Thanks, and Super Chat. The estimate includes deducted partner charged refunds for the selected date range and area.
• Content performance: How much your videos, Shorts, and live streams earned for the time period. This report includes Revenue Per Mille (RPM).
• Top earning content: Content with the highest estimated revenue for the time period.
• How much advertisers pay (CPM): Your revenue per 1,000 monetized playbacks where one or more ads show.
• Watch Page ads: The format of the ad and its buying platform. This breakdown is only available for ad revenue on long-form videos.

Note:

• Tax withholding may affect your finalized earnings, if tax withholding applies. The amount withheld is only visible in your AdSense account.
• You can also find your revenue performance at the video level.
• In the RPM card at the video level, your revenue may not add up to total estimated revenue. This is because some revenue sources aren’t attributed to a specific video. For example, channel memberships aren’t attributed to a specific video.

Research (channel level)

The Research tab gives you a summary of what your audience and viewers across YouTube are searching for. The insights from the Research tab can help you discover content gaps and video ideas that viewers may want to watch.

In this tab, you also get reports for:

• Searches across YouTube: The top search topics you explored and volume made by your audience and viewers across YouTube over the last 28 days.
• Your viewer’s searches: The search terms and volume your audience and viewers of similar channels are searching on YouTube over the last 28 days.

Get YouTube Analytics tips for Creators.