How to measure the growth of your YouTube channel

YouTube analytics are useful for measuring channel engagement, content performance, and subscriber growth. When you’re measuring the growth of your YouTube channel, you’ll want to pay close attention to the following metrics.

• Views: Views are the total number of times your video has been played. An increase in views indicates that more people are watching your video. However, views are not an accurate metric for engagement because they don’t account for video completion.
• Minutes watched: Minutes watched is an engagement metric that shows you how long people are spending on your content. An increase in this metric shows that your viewers are engaging with your videos for longer periods of time.
• Completion rate: Completion rate is the percentage of viewers who finished watching your video. An increase in this metric shows that more people are watching your video to the end.
• Retention rate: Retention rate is the percentage of viewers who return to your channel after watching your video. An increase in this metric shows that your video is driving people back to your channel.
• Subscribers: Subscribers are a key metric for measuring the growth of your YouTube channel. An increase in subscribers shows that more people are finding value in your content and want to receive more of your videos.
• Comments: Comments are an engagement metric that shows how many people are engaging with your video. An increase in comments indicates that more people are finding your video valuable.
• Thumbs up: Thumbs up is an engagement metric that shows how many people found your video highly relevant. An increase in thumbs up indicates that more people are finding your video useful.
• Video retention: Video retention is an engagement metric that shows how many people are watching your entire video. An increase in video retention indicates that more people are watching your video to the end.

Why YouTube is still a crucial channel for brands

If you’ve been pulling back on your investment in YouTube marketing, then it’s time to nudge your marketing team back into gear. Here are just a few reasons why YouTube remains a crucial channel for brands.

• Growing viewership. YouTube had 1 billion monthly active users in 2013. In 2018, that number had reached 1.8 billion monthly active users.
• Growing engagement. With more monthly active users comes greater engagement. Depending on the content vertical, the average length of a video watched on YouTube has increased from around 5 minutes in 2013 to 10 minutes in 2018.
• Growing mobile viewership. YouTube started out as a mobile-optimized platform. In 2018, mobile viewership has grown from 68% in 2013 to 80% in 2018.
• Growing video consumption. In 2018, viewers watched 1 billion hours of video every single day on YouTube. In 2013, that figure was only 700 million hours.
• Growing ad engagement. Compared to other digital advertising platforms, YouTube’s ads are still hugely successful.
• Growing time spent on YouTube. YouTube viewers are spending more time on YouTube than ever before. In 2018, the average viewer spent over an hour a day watching YouTube videos.

Tracking platform engagement with Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that measures user engagement across all platforms. You can use Google Analytics to measure the engagement of your YouTube videos. To do this, you’ll first need to link your YouTube and Google Analytics accounts.

Log in to your YouTube account, select “Channel” from the main menu, and select “Advanced” from the “Settings” tab. Select “Google Analytics” from the list of integrations, and select “Link account”.

Once your accounts are linked, select “Audience” from the menu on the left-hand side of your Google Analytics dashboard. Select “Demographics” from the list of sections on the left-hand side of your dashboard, and select “Affinity” from the list of filters on the right-hand side of your screen.

Tracking branded content consumption with Google Search

Search queries are a great way to measure the engagement of your branded content. To track branded content consumption with Google Search, you’ll first need to create a Google Search campaign and link it to your YouTube channel. This will allow you to measure branded content consumption by tracking the number of people who search for your branded keywords.

Log in to your Google AdWords account, select “Create new campaign” from the main menu, and select “Search Network” from the list of campaign types. Enter your branded keywords, select “All countries” from the “Choose where you want your ads to appear” drop-down menu, and select “YouTube” from the “Who do you want to target?” drop-down menu. Select “Save and continue” to finish creating your Google Search campaign.

Once your Google Search campaign is created, select “Audience” from the menu on the left-hand side of your Google AdWords dashboard. Select “Search Terms” from the list of sections on the left-hand side of your dashboard, and select “Engagement” from the list of filter options on the right-hand side of your screen.

Estimating ad engagements with YouTube’s paid analytics

YouTube’s paid analytics allow brands to measure ad engagements to help determine return on investment (ROI). To measure ad engagements with YouTube's paid analytics, you’ll first need to enable the feature and link your YouTube account to your Google AdWords account.

Log in to your Google AdWords account, select “Campaigns” from the main menu, and select “Create new campaign” from the list of options. Select “Display network only” from the “Choose where you want your ads to appear” drop-down menu, and select “Create new ad group” from the “Choose how you want to group your ads” drop-down menu.

Select “YouTube” from the “Network” drop-down menu, and select “Enable” from the “Ad scheduling” drop-down menu. Select “Save and continue” to finish creating your Google AdWords campaign.

Once your Google AdWords campaign is created, select “Campaigns” from the menu on the left-hand side of your Google AdWords dashboard. Select “New ad” from the list of options on the left-hand side of your dashboard, and select “Automatic” from the “Ad type” drop-down menu. Select “YouTube” from the “Network” drop-down menu, and select “Continue” to finish creating your ad.

YouTube remains a crucial channel for brands, and the platform is only getting more popular. The engagement metrics of your videos are useful metrics to track, as are search queries people use to find your videos.

When you’re measuring the growth of your YouTube channel, you’re looking for increases in views, minutes watched, and retention rate. An increase in subscribers is also a great indicator that your channel is growing.