Content creators are always on the constant lookout for how to increase public watch hours on YouTube. The platform is the world’s leading video sharing site and has in excess of over 2 billion users worldwide with daily streaming of over 1 billion hours. No doubt, every content creator on YouTube definitely wants a bit of that large chunk of watch time.
While the platform requires an adequate amount of time and resources to create quality content, getting such content to be viewed remains a daunting challenge. In this article, I will be examining how to increase public watch hours on YouTube.
What Is Watch Time On YouTube?
YouTube describes its watch time metric as “the amount of time that a viewer has watched a video. This gives you a sense of what content viewers actually watch (as opposed to videos that they click on and then abandon)”.
YouTube considers its public watch hours as a form of test to verify how contents effectively engage viewers. The longer a viewer stays on a video, the more likely it is to have relevant information to their search. This translates to more chances of viewers seeing ads in such content which means more money for YouTube. This is one of the reasons YouTube uses watch hour as a primary ranking metric in its algorithm.
How to Increase Public Watch Hours on YouTube
The goal of nearly every content creator on YouTube is to push their content to more audience and increase earnings. A lot of factors contribute to the success of a channel and Watch Time is one of those factors. So if you want to learn how to get more Watch Time on YouTube, follow some of the tips we are about to share below:
Create Value through Quality Contents
To get more Watch Time on YouTube, content creators must first master the art of creating and uploading quality content. It’s not a secret, on YouTube, content is king and if you want to accumulate enough Watch Time, you will be sure to add quality. Therefore, one of the quickest ways on how to increase public watch hours on YouTube is to simply offer value with your content.
So if your content is real, unique, useful, and informative enough, you are bound to see an increase in public watch hours. Quality of content is one bit of the task and the next is the mode of delivery. The delivery of the content has to be tailor-made to fit the physic of your target demographic. This means creating content that is effective, energetic, and visually appealing.
To summarize, content creators need to view themselves in accordance with how their audience will. Get this mix right and you will have your audience sitting to watch your channel contents all through to the end.
Capture Audience in the First 15 Seconds
The opening phase of any YouTube content plays a large role in its success or failure. If the content fails to capture the viewer’s attention right from the onset, chances are they will move away. And from available statistical data, 33% of viewers stop watching a video after 30 seconds with an increase in drop every minute. This translates to roughly a 60% loss by the second minute.
Therefore, the very first 15 seconds of any content has to be engaging and interesting. It must also be concise and inform viewers of what they can expect from the rest of the content.
Also, keep your openers consistent across all content with branding added at the end. Always keep in mind that you need to be efficient in your first 15 seconds as your content is meant for your viewers. Remember, high bounce rates will hurt your public watch hour by driving it downward.
Create Longer Video content
Asides from the quality and uniqueness of your video content, longer videos can help you attain your goal faster. Many YouTubers are now seeing the value of creating videos longer than 10 minutes. So don’t shy away from it, incorporate some longer content in your channel and see your watch hour rise.
Podcast offers an awesome way of creating content that is longer than 10 minutes and you should consider starting your own podcast. This will allow you to squeeze as much watch time from each viewer. Another benefit is that you get to publish videos with less effort and time spent on editing. You can press record, do your podcast, press end, and then publish the raw video.
Live streaming is another means on how to increase public watch hours on YouTube. As with podcasts, it requires no editing and it counts towards your public watch hours. A simple extrapolation can give you an idea of the watch time you stand to gain from a live stream session. Simply multiply the average viewers by the length of your stream to estimate your watch time. Take, for instance, a live stream session that lasts for 2 hours and you had an average of 50 viewers, this will equate to around 100 hours of watch time.
Use Relevant Titles and Thumbnails
When people search for videos on YouTube, the first thing they see is the title and thumbnail. Think of them as your book cover or homepage! This means you need to create titles as well as design thumbnails that attract attention and depicts your content correctly.
Take absolute care not to mislead the audience with titles or thumbnails that have no relevance to the content. This will result in a large click rate value with a corresponding high bounce rate since it’s not what the audience wants. Another consequence of misleading the audience is that your content can get flagged which will ultimately hurt your YouTube career.
Your thumbnails should also be optimized for both desktop and mobile devices audiences. Another aspect of this is using concise descriptive text. Description texts are displayed underneath your video in search results. Therefore, optimize it by infusing relevant keywords.
To recap, thumbnails, titles and descriptions are all important if you want to increase your public watch hours on YouTube. The ball serves to create a first impression on the audience. The thumbnail catches their eye, the title expands on the keyword of interest, and the description rounds everything out with added context.
Use Playlists to Increase Linear Viewing Experience
In general, creating playlists for your YouTube content serves as a means of funneling potential viewers toward a longer viewing experience where they watch more of your best content. Therefore when we talk about how to increase public watch hours on YouTube, we can’t but mention playlists.
The playlist is a way of organizing your content in sequential order so as to create the perfect viewing experience. It leverages on the fact that viewers will be more prone to watching follow-up content since they need not carry out any other external action on their part. The effect of this is an increase in the watch hour metric of channels utilizing playlists and a higher ranking on YouTube.
For ease, YouTube provides a start and end time function to help creators enumerate IN and OUT points for each video. One thing to keep in mind though is that through the playlist, you eliminate the need for intro and outro for every video. This gives your room to include more useful content and avoid a boring audience.
Another advantage of playlists is that creators can link to related videos at the end of each video. To increase watch hour, simply link to a themed playlist instead. When viewers click on the playlist URL, they’ll be redirected to the playlist player.
Get more subscribers
Still, on how to increase public watch hours on YouTube, a way to achieve this is to increase your subscribers base. This is one of the fundamental steps in growing a YouTube channel and if you want more Watch Time, you have to actively pursue this.
Getting more subscribers simply ensures that your content is served to as many potential viewers as possible. The more viewers a channel can amass, the more likely it is that the Watch Time on its videos will increase. Growing a channel’s subscriber base can be tricky and it isn’t an easy task.
But, some actions such as optimize the channel, promoting your content on other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, etc. it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not just enough to get more subscribers. The real task is getting those subscribers to engage your content to help increase Watch Time. We have a detailed article on how to get more subscribers.
For one, more subscribers help create social proof for a channel. It often shows that a channel is popular and when new users see this, chances are they might subscribe. If they do, they will be contributing to your Watch Time by viewing your content.
Utilize Video Cards and End Screens
The YouTube platform also tries to assist its users in increasing public watch hours by providing them with video cards and end screens. A video card simply allows you to recommend more of your content to an audience who just viewed your content.
Video cards are the small icons that appear at the top right corner of your videos. YouTube allows a creator to recommend at least 5 other videos per content. Ensure you maximize this opportunity!
Video end screens are also similar to video cards but they require the audience to watch your content to the end. End screens are just a way of asking the audience to watch your other content. The YouTube platform allows creators to add up to 4 videos and a playlist to the last 20 seconds of content.
Conclusion
Every YouTuber wants to increase his or her public watch hours and to do that; they need to incorporate several methods to drive viewing of content. Danielshustle just shares some of these methods in the above piece.
Keep in mind that each YouTubers journey is different and what method you might use will depend on what stage of that journey you are in. regardless, these tips will help you boost your public watch hour greatly and give you the much-needed latitude over competitors.
