You have probably come across YouTube channels that experience viral success while others perform poorly. With so many factors affecting a YouTube channel's success, it can be hard to understand what it takes to succeed on the platform. However, one step you can take to increase your chances of success is to utilize YouTube Analytics to grow your channel.

By checking the analytics, you can determine whether your YouTube content strategy is working. In this article, we look at how to leverage YouTube analytics to determine whether your channel is successful.

How to Measure the Success of a YouTube Channel

To determine if your YouTube channel is performing well or poorly, use the following tips:

Measure the Basics: Watch Time and Views

Before you dig deeper into your YouTube channel's performance, start by tracking the basic metrics. These are important for providing you with a clear snapshot of your videos' performance.  

The basic metrics to track are:

• Watch time: A good metric for how much time people are spending watching your videos. If your videos are receiving a high watch time, it indicates you have a highly engaged audience. It is one of the most important factors for increasing the reach of your videos. If you have a lower-than-usual watch time, it could be a sign that your content doesn't resonate with the target audience.
• Views. As one of the most basic metrics, you shouldn't track views on their own; they should be considered alongside the other metrics to get a complete picture.

Measure the Click-Through Rate

The click-through rate is a good indicator of how many viewers click a video after encountering its title and thumbnail. This can be a good metric for showing how exciting your video is to potential viewers. If your videos have a low CTR, it's a sign that your title and thumbnail aren't interesting enough. You should, therefore, experiment with different titles and thumbnails to see which ones drive the most clicks.

If your videos are achieving a high CTR, it shows that the thumbnails and titles are quite effective and that viewers are interested in learning more. You can leverage A/B testing of titles and thumbnails to get better results.

Average View Duration and Impressions

The average view duration and impressions are also important metrics that can show the performance of your videos and channel. As the name suggests, if your videos are receiving a high average view duration, it shows you have more engaging content that keeps your viewers interested. On the other hand, a shorter average view duration shows your videos are performing better.

Impressions are a metric that shows how often YouTube users come across your videos. If your videos are making a deep impression, it shows they are being discovered by a large number of users. However, if the impression count is high and the CTR is low, it indicates weak titles and thumbnails.

Measure Subscriber Growth

Subscriber growth is a strong indicator of your channel's long-term success. If people are subscribing to your channel, it's an indication that they would like to see more of this type of content. If your subscribers are growing, it shows you are creating videos that resonate with your target audience, making them want to keep coming back.

If you are losing subscribers, you need to investigate the cause and adjust your content accordingly. Therefore, tracking subscriber count can help you measure your channel's growth and adjust accordingly.

Check Audience Engagement

The engagement rate is one of the most important metrics for tracking your YouTube video's performance, as it indicates whether the content resonates with your target audience. You want to pay attention to metrics like comments, likes, and shares to see whether people enjoy and interact with the content. 

The engagement rate can be categorized into:

• Likes vs. dislikes. This is a good metric to show how your audience is receiving your videos. If the likes are much higher than the dislikes, it shows you are creating outstanding content.
• Comments. If your posts are receiving a high number of comments, that is an indicator that they are sparking conversation. You can boost the engagement level by responding to the comments.
• Shares. If you have viewers sharing videos, it is a clear indicator that the content is quite valuable and worth sharing.

When you engage with your audience by encouraging them to comment and share the content, it can boost video performance, improving their visibility in the YouTube algorithm.

Track the Source of Traffic

You can see the source of your YouTube traffic directly on YouTube Analytics. The source can include YouTube Search, the Home page, or external sources such as other social media platforms. This data is key, as it helps you determine which channels are driving the most traffic. When you realize that a lot of your traffic is coming from YouTube search, it is an indicator that your tags, video title, and descriptions are well optimized. Pay attention to the keywords that drive the most traffic and add more of them.

If most of your traffic comes from external websites, it may indicate that people are sharing your video link on other platforms. That means you have a good opportunity to expand your social media presence beyond the YouTube algorithm.

Check the Audience Retention Data

The audience retention data is a good metric for tracking your video’s performance, as it shows how long viewers stay in the video. Consider whether they are dropping off early or sticking around. A high video retention rate indicates that your viewers find the content relevant, engaging, and valuable.

If the retention rate is low, it's a sign that your audience is dropping off early, and it could indicate you need to improve the video’s pacing or structure. When you track video retention, you can adjust the video's style to attract more viewers and increase the likelihood of your videos ranking higher in the SERPs.

YouTube Benchmarks for New Channels

Creators with small channels often wonder whether their channels are performing well or poorly. The YouTube creator benchmark can be a good metric to show where your channel stands. These can enable creators to understand their progress and set some realistic goals. Benchmarks compare the performance of new channels with similar ones. They can help answer the question of whether your channel is growing fast enough or if you're getting healthy engagement. 

Here are some of the top creator benchmarks:

Beginner Channel (with 0 to 10k Subscribers)

Beginner creators usually expect to see results as soon as possible. However, this doesn't happen, as building an audience takes time. The average growth for beginner channels is usually 15 to 25% monthly. That means you can get as few as 50 views for your first video, while the 10th one might get around 500 views. 

As a beginner channel, don't expect to see a high watch time, and it's normal to see watch times of 2 to 5 minutes for most of your videos. The ratio of subscribers to views is also as low as 1:50, where you get 1 subscriber for every 50 views. Engagement is where the small channels beat the bigger ones, reaching between 8 and 12%. To be monetized, it can take 6 to 18 months. 

Intermediate Level (10,000 to 1000,00 Subscribers)

Here, you have already passed the survival phase, and your content format is already working, meaning you have a ready audience. The growth at this phase is between 8 and 15% monthly, which is slower than for beginner channels. It requires more effort to grow at this stage than to grow from 50K to 55k.

The video watch time may also increase from five to 15 minutes. The audience is already watching for a longer period because they trust the content format. The ratio of subscribers to views can change from 1:100 as you get more views for each subscriber and your content gets recommended more by the algorithm.

There can also be a drop in the engagement rate by 5 to 8%, which is considered normal, as a bigger audience includes casual viewers who aren't interacting. In addition, there can be a significant increase in revenue from $500 to $5,000 monthly, depending on the niche. At this level, some niches earn more than others. To grow at this level, you will need to collaborate with other creators. 

Established Creator

Statistics indicate that less than 1% of channels get to the level of an established creator, meaning that you have already reached the top level. At this stage, the watch time for each video can reach 10-30 minutes, as your core audience now loves your channel. They are now in love with your personality and not just the video.

The ratio of subscribers to views is usually between 1:200 and 1:500. At this point, you can get many views, with a 20-minute video likely getting between 1 and 2 million views. At this stage, the engagement rate can fall to 3-5%, but the absolute number can rise to 2 million.

The revenue potential for established creators can range from $1,000 to over $100K monthly in some niches, such as finance. There is a need for diversification at this level. You can use other earning methods such as affiliate marketing, sponsorship, and digital products to monetize your YouTube channel.

In Conclusion

If you want to rise from a beginner creator to an established one, you need to track how well your YouTube channel is performing. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you should be able to do that. Once you have grown your channel, you can now learn how to optimize your YouTube channel to attract sponsors.