Update: We are at a time in our lives when we're increasingly dependent on our mobile devices – and watching (and creating) YouTube videos is no exception. That's why I'm so glad that we can check our YouTube Video Analytics right from your phone with YouTube's Studio App.
* Monitor channel and video performance with easy-to-use analytics
* Filter and respond to comments and messages
* Get notifications when something important happens
* Update video details and monetization settings
* Manage playlists
Be sure to download the Creator Studio App and explore all that it has to offer!
How To Monitor YouTube Analytics from Desktop
For years YouTubers were frustrated by the lack of traffic data available from YouTube for their channels. We longed for a system that would rival the data rich reports we'd come to know and love in Google Analytics, and those old, out-dated YouTube Insights Reports, were merely scratching the surface.
This left the video analytics door wide open for freemium tracking services like TubeBuddy, vidIQ, Cyfe and TubeTrackr to easily attract video marketers and content creators who wanted more in-depth and up to the minute performance reports for their channels.
Enter Realtime YouTube Analytics
All of that changed a few days ago when YouTube released Realtime traffic reports on the desktop version of YouTube Analytics.
Now every video marketer and even small time YouTubers (like you and me) can monitor the true impact of any of our video promotions immediately after they are launched – just like we can in Google Analytics.
This is huge!
How To Access Realtime Reports
Here's how it works. Login to your YouTube Dashboard and on the left hand side, navigate to Analytics.
From there you can access the realtime reports. By default, you will see the activity from the last five videos you uploaded.
However, you can use the search box to key in the name of any specific video you want to track. or you can create groups of five of less videos and monitor realtime stats for those instead. The group feature is really handy if you want to watch your top five videos or five videos on a related topic all at once.
You can take a look at this screenshot and you'll see that the report is broken down into two parts. On the left you'll see traffic from the last 48 hours and and the right you'll find traffic from the last 60 minutes.
This kind of data can be really helpful for tracking the ROI of a social media campaign you just launched. Say for example, if you're buying Facebook or Twitter ads to promote your YouTube channel, you can see right away if you need to pull the plug on the ad or increase your investment. 
I often use Viral Content Buzz to promote my new uploads and evergreen content on YouTube and with realtime analytics I'll know that my vids are not just being shared but they're actually being watched!
More Improvements to YouTube Video Analytics
Back in 2013 I voiced my frustration about the old “YouTube Insights” reports. At the time, I introduced my readers to a more inclusive video analytics service called Cyfe. The problem was that YouTube would only show a list of the top ten performing videos on the dashboard. With over 150 videos on my channel I needed to see more. My goal was to optimize the titles and descriptions of my older videos based on keywords being used to find my content in the Google and YouTube search engines. It was pretty challenging to dig through all of those videos to find the ones that needed to be tweaked.
Problem solved.
The new YouTube “Watch Time” Reports go on and on all the way to the end of the full list of your videos. This makes it so much easier to find not only the popular videos, but you also get details about total minutes watched and average view duration. These are some really important stats that play a big role in the YouTube search algorithm.
Enough talking. Time for a video. Sit back and watch, as I peel back the curtain and take you behind the scenes to show you the YouTube Analytics for my Channel: Ms. Ileane Speaks
Subscriber Engagement Reports
The next set of YouTube Analytics reports I want to cover here are the Engagement Reports. You can drill down into those reports and see how they work in this video.
What do you think? Have you explored the YouTube Analytics dashboard lately?
I haven’t quite figured out the real time analytics – and I’ve found that the estimated earnings are not always 100% accurate (they are typically lower than what actually posts to the adsense account. Many thanks for the article 🙂 Cheers!
Andrew – you’re absolutely right. The estimated earnings are never accurate on the YouTube Analytics reports (hence the word “estimated”). For a more accurate accounting you need to log into you AdSense account and go to Performance Reports > Products > Hosted AdSense for Content. Those reports are much more reliable.
Thanks for the question!
Awesome article. YouTube is no doubt the 3rd most visited website in all over world and if someone manages to grab traffic from there, their blog or website is going to rock than.
Thanks, keep writing!
Hey Ammar! It might surprise you to learn that YouTube is now the number TWO most visited website and they passed Facebook a few months ago. Isn’t that wild?
Great post Ileane. This is great news. Video marketing is something that I do want to get into more, but I wasn’t totally confident about analytics – this should help a great deal.
Kostas, what kind of videos are you thinking about doing? I’d love to help you get started. Just let me know. Thanks for your comment.
the analytics are great but can be overwhelming for some. it does give good insights to adjust your content though.
Ileane: Now it could be time to start out with creating video clips in a bigger scale on YouTube! 😉 Lotta Gergils Aston and I have talked about starting a YouTube channel with extra material accompanying our audio podcast, TrendPal.
Hi Martin! That sounds like a fantastic idea. I think YouTube and podcasting can work well together and many successful podcasters engage their subscribers with videos. Great way to cross-promote. Let me know if you need a hand with anything.
Thanks and best wishes!
Hii Ileane
Nice article and beautiful tips and now i think to start my own youtube channel. thanks to share this amazing post.
Hi
It’s a fact that your blog posts are so unique and interesting and I enjoys a lot while reading your posts because you explained your post very deeply in a very easy and clear language. Thanks for your support and Happy Blogging 😀
Incredible post Ileane. This is extraordinary news. Feature advertising is something that I would like to get into all the more, yet I wasn’t completely certain about investigation – this ought to help an incredible arrangement.
Ileane !!! You’re the best for the data and post. I am going to give it a prompt attempt now. I began my YouTube channel six months back a portion of the recordings I am getting great response on few rest of the videos are not performing admirably. I will definitely dive closer into this information this seems a great solution!
Hi Kristy,
Great to hear that you are using YouTube! I hope you get things are sorted out with your videos and let me know how things go!
Hi Ileane,
Thanks for sharing this post. It’s no doubt YouTube is 3rd most visited website in all over world and if anybody controls traffic from there, their blog is going to top of the world.
Thanks & Regards,
Ankita
I was not aware with youtube real-time analytics, Thank you for sharing this information
Hi Ileane,
Very nice post shared by you.
Youtube is the most trending social media content nowadays, as many of videos are being uploaded every day and also there is a long crowd to watch them, if it is good enough to watch.
Analyzing your video content is good as it tells the real story of your video uploaded. Video should must be according to your audience that it would be loved and liked all over. Will share your article as it would definitely help many of users in analytics.
Thanks for the post.
Have a nice day.
~ Harshwardhan
IIeane! In my view, Youtube Analytics are much important as Web Analytics. Youtube is one of the most visited websites now a day. Analytics of your video channel shows you trending and earning both. Very useful post. Thanks, IIeane.
Valuable information on Youtube real time analytics.Thank you
Thank you very much for sharing this…I think a lot of people, more specifically YouTube users, do not understand the actual stats. Thank you for sharing this!
You are right about that Nicoli. Most YouTubers never bother looking at their stats, that is for sure. Thanks!
I don’t use YouTube but wouldn’t it be great to integrate with Google Analytics, I believed Google Analytics would be very useful.
Hi Louis. Good point. Actually you can install Google analytics on your YouTube channel. It doesn’t give stats for each video though, just for your channel page. It’s helpful to some degree so I use it.
Well, without tracking video individually then Google Analytic is limited, definitely tracking with Youtube Analytics it’d be better.
It’s true that Youtube is so important nowadays but a lot of companies don’t see the potential of this media.
A video tell us a story and show, a little bit more of reality while a photo is modified and shows what it wants to show.
Analyse Youtube is a very good way to analyze and develop a business and its performances !
Thank you for the article.
great post lleane, thanks for sharing this app with us, I will try to use this app for android, I am begining in afiliate programs.
Hi !
I recently used @vidooly, it’s a youtube analytic website, what’s your views on it ?
It seems good to me.
Hi Shivam, I’m so glad you mentioned Vidooly!! They contacted me and we are going to get together for a quick walk through of the features. I do use the extension but I think I am missing some of the great features. Stay tuned for my review!
Hi,
Great post! Thanks for sharing. Could you please explain to me how to get more views on youtube videos and channels? Also will it be worth buying?
Thanks in advance.
Deborah,
Never buy followers. No matter what platform you’re on, buying followers is a waste of time and money. Most importantly, buying followers on YouTube will get your account banned.
Thanks for the info Ileane:-)