Getting the Most from YouTube Video Statistics

YouTube is fast becoming a preferred medium for marketers to gain exposure for their business. Video allows a high degree of interaction with visitors, and viewers can like, dislike or comment on the video. The videos are easily shared, and can be embedded on other social media sites, blogs or websites to gain even greater exposure.

They also provide a variety of options for marketing a product or service. Businesses may choose to create a “how to” video, a product demonstration or a marketing video that is purely entertainment. YouTube is owned by Google, and as with all things Google, it is easy to optimize videos for search engines. There are a variety of YouTube video statistics available that provide information on performance. However, understanding why certain content performs better than others is the key to gaining subscribers and increasing engagement.

YouTube Analytics

YouTube statistics are available to users to help them optimize their videos. YouTube recently upgraded their YouTube analysis report to replace YouTube Insights. The new metrics show the number of views for each video and provides the option to filter them for subscribers only. View versus Unique Cookies provides the average views for each visitor. Demographics information displays the age and sex of the viewers. The countries in which the viewers are located can be found under Geography.

A Playback Locations report provides information on where videos are embedded and Traffic Sources displays sites that link viewers to the videos. The watch time for each video is also included. Other features include an Absolute Retention report where the segments of videos that are being viewed or abandoned may be viewed as well as a Relative Retention report that compares audience engagement with other videos of similar duration.

Users are provided an Annotations report where they can see the number of click-throughs and closure rate. Additionally, audience interaction can be gauged with YouTube engagement metrics provided on likes and dislikes, comments and sharing.

Third Party YouTube Statistics

In addition to data provided directly from YouTube, more detailed YouTube stats are available from third party providers. Percolate is designed to create a marketing plan customized for the unique business objectives of the organization. It integrates all aspects of marketing to increase productivity and assure that it is consistent with the company’s brand and target audience. The technology recommends trends, images and media relevant to the brand to help inspire pertinent content creation. Percolate facilitates distribution by publishing it to blogs, e-mail, social and search marketing sites. YouTube metrics are monitored for customer engagement to enable the business to generate conversations and route inquiries. Percolate also delivers customized analytics to enable businesses to make informed decisions regarding content strategy.

Hootsuite provides listening tools that filter out spam as well as track the location. It is also capable of listening in multiple languages. Hootsuite enables users to analyze keywords and phrases to discover developing trends. It includes YouTube analytics applications that display traffic sources, the locations where videos are played and the top search terms. YouTube channel statistics provide the number of monthly subscribers, demographics, geographic location where videos are played as well as mobile analytics. The application enables users to determine which of their videos are trending on YouTube and learn how viewers discover their videos.

Unmetric is an analytics platform that provides real time data on top performing videos to help businesses develop a content strategy that will attract their targeted audience. The information provided helps marketers understand the types of content viewers prefer. This enables them to create posts that better engage viewers and elicit relevant discussions. Unmetric provides an analysis of the client’s content and their competitors. An Inspire tool displays examples of top performing posts based on the user’s preferences.

Type in words like “Super Bowl” or “Selfies” and brand posts or brand tweets with the keyword in them will start showing up

Unmetric will notify users when a post is receiving a high volume of engagement. This enables the user to take part in the discussion or simply observe consumers’ behavior. The Highlights area enables clients to stay abreast of trending discussions by promptly identifying posts or profiles that are receiving a high degree of engagement.

The Difference between YouTube’s Analytics and Third Party Solutions

YouTube Analytics provides data such as demographics and location of viewers, which allows users to better target their audience. Tools such as Annotations display the number of click-throughs to help determine if the title and description are relevant to searches. However, increasing subscribers and conversions is largely content driven.

While the metrics provided by YouTube are useful, they don’t provide insight into viewer behavior. Unmetric analyzes the client’s content as well as top performing content from the industry to help clients better understand the type of content that engages their audience. Unmetric notifies clients of posts that receive a high degree of engagement so they can observe responses and be inspired by other brands.

YouTube Benchmarking Tools

YouTube data benchmarking enables clients to compare their content campaigns to those with similar brands across the industry. A YouTube data benchmark tool provides information such as click-through rate, engagement rate and time as well as video completions.

This information can also be used to set meaningful goals and identify trends across an industry. For example, Unmetric displayed social media data such as the number of views,uploads, mentions, likes and shares for top performing posts by major brands each month during 2014 in an infographic. This could provide a useful YouTube data benchmarking tool for brands in similar industries where as it displays the comparison data and the type of content that initiates engagement.

Benchmarking Tools for Big Brands

In-depth YouTube video statistics provided by third party companies are usually designed for big businesses. They are intended to analyze data to provide a YouTube data benchmark and help clients better compete with similar brands on YouTube. Posts are tagged and tracked to assist clients in discovering the type of content and marketing strategies employed by competitors. In turn, they better understand what works and what doesn’t. This will enable them to improve their own marketing.

To start seeing YouTube statistics and other data on your own YouTube efforts along with those that you compete against, sign up for a free trial on Unmetric.