YouTube Video Analytics Just Got A Whole Lot Better

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.

As you'll notice in the video above, the YouTube Creators Studio App, (which you can get for your iPhone and Android device) is quite aptly named because it gives creators access to the backend of there video hub without leaving their smart phones. Not only can you see real-time stats on your YouTube videos, but you can set notifications which allow you to quickly respond to comments and engage with your audience on the go!  Here's a summary from the app description:

* 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

Click here for the video transcript.

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.

As you can see, having access to realtime reports, detailed traffic statistics and finally subscriber engagement reports can provide valuable and actionable insights to help you grow your audience on YouTube.

What do you think? Have you explored the YouTube Analytics dashboard lately?