Many of us woke up to receive an email today announcing YouTube’s new terms for monetizing your channel.
On February 20, you will be able only to sell your channel to the public when you have at least 1,000 subscribers and have also accumulated more than 4,000 hours of watched time in the last year.
We are aware that many smaller Vloggers are feeling depressed and sad by the news.
For many of us, 4000 hours of watching time (equivalent to roughly 20.000 minutes of view duration per month) are quite a lofty goal. I have a few videos that have more than 15,000 views on my channel, but my channel hasn’t met the target of watch time. You can also buy YouTube watch time with SoNuker.
We must not be discouraged!
Instead of being discouraged, instead of feeling depressed, you can try these strategies and tips to boost your YouTube watching time. Also, the more time viewers watch YouTube videos, the greater your subscriber count will rise!
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Find Out When You Watched Your Hours
The first step to increasing the time spent watching is to find the reason. Sign in to YouTube and then launch the Creator Studio to find out.
After that, click “analytics” in the menu left of the screen and then change the chart’s view for “the last 365 days” at the lower right of the chart.
This will show you how long people watched your videos over that period. Your goal of 4,000 hours is equal to approximately 240,000 hours. If you’ve accomplished that – congrats!
If you’re not, you’re likely to need to look at ways to improve your time spent watching. Here are a few of our suggestions.
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Post at the right time
One of the best methods to boost the amount of time watched is to give your video the highest chance of appearing when you search for it. In the end, more views mean more time spent watching!
There’s more information in our post on When it’s appropriate to Post on YouTube However, in a nutshell, it is recommended to post in the mid-afternoon during the week to allow your video to be indexed before the peak time for viewing (8 pm).
You might want to consider posting later on the weekend and be thinking about days when Internet traffic is generally more significant, so you can post later during the week and not post on Mondays!
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Make use of Playlists
Have you realized that viewers do not need to be watching your video to make you more watchable?
Oh no.
The moment a viewer starts watching your video and then continues watching a playlist, it won’t matter if other people own the following videos, and you still receive credit for the watch time.
To make the most of this feature, make sure you have all your YouTube videos included in playlists. And if you’re that kind, you like spending time on YouTube; you might want to spend some time creating Playlists with other videos and your own.
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Use cards and end Slates
After you’ve uploaded your video onto YouTube, there are some tricks that you can use to entice viewers to keep watching, rather than deleting your video too fast.
One of the easiest is to utilize YouTube Cards. YouTube Cards feature. This lets you add an on-screen hyperlink at any time in your video to link to another channel, video, or playlist.
A great tip for using cards in older videos: check your analytics and look at your “view time” for your video. It will reveal the point where the majority of viewers leave the video. Set up a card for a few seconds before giving the viewer the chance to view another similar music or video. The idea is to keep them engaged on YOUR channel or playlist rather than putting them off for a while.
If you are using End Slates, you can employ the same strategy of directing viewers to a different of your videos or a more extended playlist. Also, include a subscription link at the end of every video.
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Have a Teaser
Most of the time, when viewers watch YouTube videos, viewers tend to get bored fast. You’ll be able to tell this is happening to you when your view duration on a video displays an enormous drop in just the first few seconds of the video. It’s painful to observe the change, but it’s something that occurs.
It’s good to know that you can lessen this problem by having the most exciting, thrilling part of your video at the beginning as a teaser. Watch to find out if this is the hidden message.
This is why you’ll typically find recipes opening with a photo of the nearly finished dish or funny videos that start with a fantastic FAIL prior to the channel’s title or logo appearing.
If it’s not, an easy, “Hey, this video will focus on …” beginning of your video is ideal for watching time. Many YouTubers are also using the method of telling viewers to “Watch until the end to find out” …” and learn more” and then adding an obscene scene or giveaway at the close of the video to encourage viewers not to leave the page too quickly.
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Let people know what to expect
One of the primary reasons for the low amount of time viewers spend on YouTube videos is that people click away when the content isn’t as expected. It’s possible to think that the click-bait title or thumbnail is impressive for view numbers (and it could even be), but it’s not good news for the duration of watch time. It’s not worth having the video get 10,000 views if 9,900 viewers watched only five seconds.
The best advice we can give for this is to ensure that your title description, thumbnail, and description are accurate. Match what’s on the video. The total number of views might decrease, but your real viewing time (a much more crucial measurement) will rise.
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Make Use of Your Analytics
It’s not enough to stress that YouTube Analytics is your absolute best companion for watching time.
If you’re growing your channel, the time spent watching is a much better indicator of success than views or subscriber counts, as both are easily altered and could be deceiving.
Make it a habit of observing what videos receive the most viewing time. Look for things you do in your videos that cause viewers to move away from the video – you may realize that your titles for the opening are too long or that viewers prefer videos that offer step-by-step instructions instead of pictures of life. It’s all about testing and trying and, hopefully, having fun!
