Ask any YouTuber and they will tell you that generating significant views and subscribers isn't easy. But with the right strategy and tools, any video creator can build an engaged subscriber base when they understand what those subscribers want to watch.

Appealing to an audience to watch content you are passionate about making is just the first step, you need to know how to reach them and get your videos discovered. Our guides to how to guide more views on YouTube will give you the best tips to succeed on the platform.

YouTube Views

How To Get More Views on YouTube

Do you want to make money on YouTube? Millions of creators are earning a very good living from monetizing the platform and uploading content that drives huge views and engagements. Whether that YouTube income is from advertising revenue, merchandise sales, or brand deals, or subscriptions, we keep you updated with best practices and ideas.

YouTube Monetization

How To Make Money on YouTube

Getting thousands or even millions of YouTube subscribers is a dream for most creators. In the articles below, we'll show you how to turn casual viewers into long-term fans. 

YouTube Subscribers

Want to see how your channel is performing? Read these YouTube analytics articles to discover what's working and what isn't. You'll learn how to identify which videos have the most Watch Time, clicks, audience retention, revenue, and more.

YouTube Analytics

Watch Time is arguably THE most important metric on YouTube right now, and creators won’t be able to monetize their content without 4000 hours of it. But what is it and how can creators increase the amount of Watch Time their videos attract? We keep you updated on the best practices around Watch Time, and how you can increase how much your video content generates.

YouTube Watch Time

YouTube Shorts content is set to explode! 

All the latest tips, tricks, and rock-solid advice you need for this new feature.

YouTube Shorts

Do you know how to do keyword research so you understand what videos people are actually searching for on YouTube? Do you know how to create a custom YouTube thumbnail? Do you know how to create a Playlist on YouTube?

vidIQ has a ton of tips that will help every creator maximise their video content. We publish content every week to keep you up to date with all the best practices.

Tips & Tricks

YouTube Tips & Tricks

Why do YouTube videos get demonetized? It’s a valid question, especially when someone takes the time to film, edit, and upload a video. Most creators try their best to make positive, original content for viewers around the world. What are they doing wrong in terms of making money and staying monetized on YouTube?

Google AdSense 101 - How to Benefit from Ad Revenue on YouTube

Most of the time, it's a lack of information. Creators know the basics of YouTube's rules, but they don't always know the fine details. And overall, people are just ready to record!

: A set of rules to ensure everyone’s safety on YouTube

 An explanation of which videos are suitable for advertisers

: A set of terms and conditions for placing ads on YouTube videos

: A set of terms and conditions for how viewers and creators operate on YouTube

Violating any of the four could lead to demonetization. Here's how to avoid that outcome.

What Does ‘Demonetized’ Mean on YouTube?

If YouTube demonetized a video, that means it restricted 

 ads from appearing. That includes every type of ad available to creators: display ads, overlay ads, sponsored cards, and skippable and non-skippable video ads. You won’t earn Google AdSense revenue for demonetized content.

Turning off ads is just one form of demonetization.

. This option bars you from all the money-making features: Google AdSense, Super Chats and Stickers, Super Thanks, merchandise shelves, Channel Memberships, and YouTube Premium revenue. It’s like being kicked out of the 

How to Tell If a YouTube Video Is Demonetized

After uploading a video, you can see its monetization status in less than an hour. It takes a while because YouTube is making sure the video is suitable for ads.

In the YouTube Studio, there are seven monetization icons

. Each one tells you the status of a video’s earning power.

 YouTube is checking your video for ad suitability.

 Monetization is on, and your video is eligible for most ads.

 Monetization is on for a song cover, but a music publisher claimed the revenue.

 Monetization is on, but YouTube is still determining who will get paid.

 Monetization is on, but ads are limited.

 You turned on monetization for the video, but YouTube won’t show ads.

 You turned off monetization for the video.

 means your video is demonetized, as shown below.

How to Check a Video’s Monetization Status:

Log into YouTube and click your profile icon in the top right corner. Select 

Find the video in question using the search bar at the top of the page.

. You’ll see one of the seven icons (shown above) indicating your video’s status.

Videos that aren't advertiser-friendly won’t earn much revenue. Here are 14 ways to avoid demonetization on YouTube.

? One of the requirements for monetizing your content is to avoid being repetitious. That means you shouldn't post videos with no recognizable differences on your channel. Your content needs a healthy dose of variety, from the audio tracks you use to the topics you cover.

That doesn’t mean you can’t explore one topic in depth. You can create similar videos as long as the bulk of each one is different. Take a look at the 

, for example. We share tips for gaining 1,000 subscribers all the time. But the advice changes as we discover new methods, which means we’re always talking about something new within the context of gaining subscribers.

2. Add Something Valuable to Repurposed Content

Using another creator’s intellectual property, such as songs, video clips, and images, could lead to one or more 

 on your channel. You’ll get these alerts when your video contains media that doesn’t belong to you. Copyright claims aren’t the end of the world, but YouTube might demonetize the video(s) in question or only give you partial revenue.

Can I Still Monetize My YouTube Channel If I have a Copyright Claim?

 happens when you reuse someone’s content without adding something new or transformative. If you’re posting a reaction video, for example, add some commentary that brings a fresh perspective to the original event, opinion, or narrative.

YouTube says it's OK to monetize reused content when:

You’re using brief clips for a critical review.

You’re adding original commentary to an event (movies, sporting events, etc.).

You’re adding an original storyline to edited footage from other creators.

Your best bet, of course, is to use your own content. But at the same time, YouTube understands that there are thousands of reaction channels out there. And guess what? Lots of creators are making money with that format.

3. Don’t Be Spammy, Deceptive, or Participate In Scams

YouTube wants every viewer to have a positive experience. And no user can do that while being tricked or misled by deceptive videos and comments. If you’re on the platform for the wrong reasons – like running scams and leading people to shady websites – YouTube might demonetize your content.

To stay on YouTube’s good side, don’t:

Repeatedly post content about making fast cash.

Lead viewers to websites with harmful software (viruses, information theft, etc.)

Use misleading thumbnails, video descriptions, and titles to “trick” viewer into clicking.

Promote “get rich quick” content or pyramid schemes.

Sell engagement metrics, like views, comments, and subscribers. That includes Sub4Sub, a type of spam where creators ask people to subscribe to their channels.

Post comments to gather information from viewers or drive them off of YouTube.

Live stream content that doesn’t belong to you.

Check out the image below to see an example of comment spam. Notice how the circled comment is impersonating the owner of the video, finance creator Graham Stephan. If you look closely, you can tell that “Replied_by Graham Stephan” is a bogus account.

This user is trying to drive people away from YouTube. Practices like this will get you demonetized.

Read more about spam, deception, and scams on YouTube’s support page

YouTube doesn’t tolerate hate speech of any kind. If you want to successfully monetize your videos, don't say (or type) harmful, offensive things. YouTube will demonetize your content if you're inciting violence or hate against specific groups.

Avoiding hate speech is easy. Think of all the ways people discriminate against others, and simply avoid saying those things in your videos. 

The most egregious hate speech revolves around age, sexual orientation, gender, race, disabilities, religion, immigration status, and veteran status.

Are there certain “demonetized words” on YouTube? Is it possible to say the wrong thing and lose all your ad revenue?

YouTube won’t demonetize a video for containing words like “hell” or “damn.” That’s considered light profanity, and most people aren’t offended by those terms. It’s the vulgar words that will get you into trouble, like repeatedly dropping F-bombs or constantly saying “b*tch.”

Can You Swear on YouTube and Still Make Money?

Here is a list of words that lead to demonetization:

Even when misspelled, adding these words to any element of a video (titles, thumbnails, etc.) is against the rules.

Our advice? Minimize the profanity in your videos. It's an easy way to get full monetization.

6. Don’t Show Dangerous or Illegal Activities

Want to make sure YouTube doesn’t demonetize your video? Avoid showing clips or images of bodily harm, gruesome injuries, and death. These themes are disturbing to viewers and scare advertisers away.

Logan Paul’s 2017 “suicide forest” video

. This was a huge scandal. Paul uploaded a YouTube video showing a dead body, and people around the world were deeply disturbed. He later shared a video of himself tasering dead rats. Eventually, 

YouTube temporarily demonetized his channel

Posting illegal activities is a bad idea too. You’ll have a better chance of monetizing your videos if you don't show:

glorifying dangerous acts results in demonetization or worse.

 If you can expect certain injury or death from an activity, it’s not suitable for YouTube.

7. Avoid Posting Sexually Explicit Content

YouTube will demonetize any video that gratifies sex. This type of content focuses on nudity, sex scenes, and pornography. If that’s the creator’s intent – indulging in sexual scenes – the next step is a no-brainer for YouTube. There will be no ads on the video, zero AdSense revenue, and (possibly) a channel termination.

Clothed or unclothed, YouTube states that showing genitals, breasts, or buttocks in an indulgent way violates its monetization policies. Also, sexual fetishes of any kind and in various formats (video, text, images, audio) are not allowed.

Read more about nudity and sexual content on YouTube’s support page.

8. Use Royalty-Free Music From the YouTube Library

Music copyright is a deep subject on YouTube. But for the purpose of monetizing videos, you only need to know two things:

Never use someone’s music without their written permission.

Did YouTube demonetize your video? Here are 14 ways to make positive content that stays monetized no matter what.

14 Ways to Avoid YouTube Demonetization

Last week on January 23rd 2019 the Burger King social media team started liking influencer Tweets from 2009 and 2010. They liked three of Casey's tweets and here was his response.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">why is Burger King liking my 8 year old tweets? <a href="https://t.co/q8xL1S23NG">pic.twitter.com/q8xL1S23NG</a>&mdash; Casey Neistat (@CaseyNeistat) <a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyNeistat/status/1088235837089898497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2019</a></blockquote>

At the time of this Tweet he did not know that this was a trick Burger King was using to get influencers to give them free publicity and this single Tweet got over 13,000 likes. The truth was Burger King was using many influencers for a launch campaign. They are reintroducing funnel cake fries.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">some things from 2010 are worth revisiting—like your old tweets. and funnel cake fries. get them now for a limited time.&mdash; Burger King (@BurgerKing) <a href="https://twitter.com/BurgerKing/status/1088244260820975616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2019</a></blockquote>

Shortly after that the truth came out from an article from Complex titled "

the truth on why Burger King was liking your old tweets

". Here is Casey's response video where he claims that Burger King Exploited him.

On one hand you could say that Burger King used shady practices to get buzz about a new product launch. But on the other Casey took full advantage of this situation and tells Burger King to work with him for charity.

Infact they responded and seem to have agreed to his terms

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">sup <a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyNeistat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CaseyNeistat</a>, we’re ready to meet your “suggestions.&quot; slide into our DMs real quick. <a href="https://t.co/PjIuwyWtGl">pic.twitter.com/PjIuwyWtGl</a>&mdash; Burger King (@BurgerKing) <a href="https://twitter.com/BurgerKing/status/1090331472035282945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2019</a></blockquote>

No matter your opinion on the matter this all happened from a brilliant social media team. We are not saying what they did was the right thing but it did gain attention and start something bigger. For example we are blogging about Burger King and Casey on a Tuesday.

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level then make sure to download vidIQ. It will help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Burger King created a shady social media campaign last week that has gained a ton of attention and upset a lot of social media influencers.

Did Burger King Exploit Casey Neistat or did Casey Neistat Exploit Burger King?

Curious which analytics you should be focusing on in the coming months to help grow your channel? Look no further — here are the top 5 analytics to get you more views and subscribers on YouTube in 2019.

Note: In order to follow along you’ll need to access the new YouTube Studio beta. If you’re still on Creator Studio Classic, you'll see a big blue “YOUTUBE STUDIO BETA” link in the top-left-hand corner. Click there and you'll instantly see a radically different analytics page.

The first analytic we want to look at is click-through rate. Put simply, your click-through rate is the number of times somebody clicks on one of your thumbnails or titles from the total number of times it's been seen.

So if three people see your video and one of them chooses to watch it, that’s a click-through rate essentially of 33.3%.

In the YouTube Studio beta, you can see the impressions and click-through rates for the past 28 days by simply navigating to “Analytics” from the dashboard and then clicking on “Reviewers.”

You can also go to different cards in the YouTube analytics and look at a breakdown of click-through rates. So if I click on Top Videos, for example, it will list the click-through rate for individual videos as well.

Now if you’re wondering why you should care about your click-through rate, here are three key reasons:

Every single analytic from your YouTube channel trickles down from click-through rate. People have to actually click on your thumbnail to watch your content before you can gain traction with other analytics such as watchtime, subscribers, comments, and all the rest of that good stuff.

Viewers judge videos by their thumbnails just as readers judge books by their covers, so it's really important to have a good first impression. Your click-through rate represents intrigue — of topic, thumbnail or title. For example, recently we covered the subscriber rate of PewDiePie vs. T-Series. Because it was a very intriguing topic at the time, and we used very targeted keywords and colorful thumbnails, our click-through rate for that particular topic went through the roof.

An important to remember about click-through rate is it’s not an exact science. I often hear people say between 2% and 10% is a “good” click-through rate, but I think it’s better to focus simply on improving your click-through rate.

Click-through rates vary from video topic to video topic, and it's heavily influenced by where you are simply in the order of suggested videos and search pages. If you're at the top of a search page, you can have a terrible thumbnail but a high click-through rate simply because of the prime real estate.

Don't get too caught up comparing your click-through rate versus somebody else's. Look at your click-through rate, and aim to improve it one or two percentage points over 2019 — that will bring in a significant number of views.

Channel analytics can give you some insight into average view duration, but a more accurate approach is look at audience retention on individual videos.

To do this, click “Videos” along the left-hand nav. Click on the video that you want to investigate and you’ll see audience retention.

Mouse over the graph and you'll see the audience retention at a specific point in the video, or click on a point and then press play. Doing so will allow you to see the audience retention alongside the video in real-time, giving you clues to investigate drops and spikes in retention.

And if you’re thinking that watchtime is the ultimate analytic king on YouTube and not audience retention, consider that YouTube tends to favor content with more than 50% audience retention. So whether your videos are two minutes long, four minutes long or six minutes long, aim first to make your content better to improve audience retention, and then start to think about making longer videos if that's what you want to do with your content to get more watchtime.

Each individual video has likes and dislikes, and 

 has a funky little tool that turns these metrics into a Likes to Dislikes Ratio.

But what if you want this for your entire channel?

Well they do in the form of YouTube recommended content. When viewers watch your content and enjoy it, they generally watch for longer, and YouTube loves this.

When YouTube loves your content, they want to share it with more people. That means putting it on the homepage, Browse Features and the suggested videos on watch pages — and the more you can push this line into the orange, the more YouTube is doing all the hard work for you.

Rather than people having to search to find your content or find it through the subscription feeds, they're finding it in random places because YouTube wants to share your content with a wider audience.

So how do you manipulate this magic formula to get it to work for you? Engaging thumbnails, intriguing titles — which are then clicked onto — increased watchtime on your content and, as we mentioned, getting above 50% with your audience retention.

For example, take a look at vidIQ’s September analytics below. Notice the 2.5 million impressions, 27.8% of which came from YouTube recommending our content.

Now take a look at vidIQ’s analytics for October when the T-Series vs. PewDiePie subscriber rates was in full flow.

Look at the radical change here: 17 million impressions, and YouTube was recommending our content way more, especially on homepages.

We were feeding YouTube exactly what they wanted and so they responded by sharing it with a much wider audience.

I may be missing something here in the new analytics dashboard, but I can't find a good way to show subscribers gained from videos, so we're going old school here.

Navigate to Creator Studio Classic, click on “Subscribers” and then “YouTube watch page”. This will show you all the videos that are converting viewers into subscribers.

Since there is no analytic that tracks trust, tracking subscribers gained is the next best thing. Think about it, why else would someone subscribe to your channel unless they trust you — trust you to entertain, educate or emotionally impact you.

People who subscribe to your channel from a video watch page usually do it because they’ve experienced a light bulb moment — something that instinctively and instantly drives them to click that button.

 you can look at subs gained a lot quicker than through YouTube analytics through the subs gained column on our channel audit.

If you click on “View More”, you can see all of the videos that are driving viewers to turn into subscribers. It's almost like your trust column.

We also have click-through rate, audience retention, YouTube recommended content, and subscribers gained.

We said earlier that gaining subscribers through your videos is like building trust with your audience. Gaining comments, likes and dislikes through your videos is building engagement — another really important facet of YouTube.

Strictly speaking, YouTube doesn't track engagement rate, but the vidIQ channel audit tool does. Use it to see which videos are generating conversation or whether they're polarizing in terms of how many people react to it with likes versus dislikes.

Astonishingly here, we have one video with 68% engagement rate, but that's because we were having a little bit of fun with YouTube premieres.

In terms of engagement rates, we also want to look at the finer points as well. If we scroll down the channel audit page, we can look at how often the end screens are clicked on — you know, those boxes right at the end of videos.

As a final thought on engagement, don’t forget the Community tab if you have access to it.

Use it to ask your audience what video you should make next, collect general feedback or start a conversation. You might be surprised by the response. In fact, we’ve found that some of our posts are getting more feedback from the videos themselves.

All of these analytics are super important, but if you don’t actually do something with them then you’re missing the point. Remember: Doing the same thing over and expecting different results is a sign of insanity.

Our challenge to you is simple: Act on the data you’re getting from YouTube and 

 and good luck in growing your channel in 2019!

Video creators have access to A TON of analytics, but which ones should you prioritize to get more views and subscribers? Dive into the top 5 vidIQ-approved analytics and grow your YouTube channel fast.

How to Get More Views and Subscribers with YouTube Analytics

With the recent passing of Article 13 as part of the EU copyright reform law, many a video creators are asking themselves, “Could Article 13 kill YouTube?”

We’re hardly copyright experts here at vidIQ, but we clearly have a vested interest in how Article 13 will be interpreted and enforced in the coming months and years.

Here’s what we know so far, and where you can learn more about Article 13 and #SaveYourInternet.

Article 13 is part of European copyright legislation created with the intent to protect creators and their online content.

At the basis of Article 13 is the question, “Who has copyright ownership?”

For example, every vidIQ video opens with an intro kindly made for us by an audio and podcast expert by the name of Mike Russel. The problem is, we don’t have official documents saying Mike created the sound effects and that he gave his license to use his voice or that we have permission to use the graphics, which were probably created using Adobe After Effects.

Here’s another example: If you’ve watched 

, you’ve probably noticed the memorabilia in the background — Batman and Ironman action figures, a WWE title belt, Spider-Man, Shredder, a YouTube ‘Subscribe’ pillow and a Nintendo question mark block from Super Mario.

We didn't ask permission from any of the companies who make and license these products to put them in our videos, and in the past we’ve not needed to, but will Article 13 change this?

In order to interpret Article 13 for YouTube video purposes, we have to take 

With Article 13 as currently written, copyright matching tools like Content ID wouldn't help platforms such as YouTube to keep content on the platform. Content ID works if rightsholders use it and provide clarity as to what belongs to them. However, in many cases information on copyright ownership is missing, or there is partial knowledge, meaning that no system could accurately identify full copyright information at the point of upload.

Put simply, a piece of content with partial or unknown ownership is - to YouTube - treated the same as a piece of content that is unlicensed and so would have to be blocked.

In summary, Article 13 is complicated — there's no dispute in that. But is’t also scary.

How will Article 13 impact video creators?

Think about the Logan Paul “Adpocalypse” controversy or the new YouTube monetization requirements. These crises were tiny in comparison to Article 13, which will affect everybody in a monumental way.

Although the video is still being drafted, in the EU block essentially any video creator who creates content within that area will not be allowed to share it outside of the EU.

Not only that, anybody who creates content outside of the EU block will not have their content be viewable by those outside of the EU… You might call this a Video Content Iron Curtain.

To make matters worse, this block would be immediate, as soon as the video goes live. And it would extend to all past content as well — so all those videos you already have up on YouTube will also be blocked.

At this point you may be thinking that YouTube would never allow this, since it would harm their own income revenue streams to such a massive degree that it could put the company out of business.

But the truth is, YouTube may take these type of extreme measures, because they would be held liable for any copyright infringement.

Yes, the video creator may be the one using copyright music or stealing someone else’s video content, but as the distribution platform, YouTube would be held accountable.

Using Content ID to identify problematic content is a nice idea, but we all know that Content ID on YouTube is not perfect, and many of you have probably had your videos dinged incorrectly with copyright music claims and duplication.

Imagine the chaos that would ensue on the platform if YouTube had to analyze every single pixel, every bit of sound on every single second of YouTube video content uploaded in Europe.

If you’re thinking, “Good, this is revenge against YouTube for demonetizing my channel or making it so hard to meet the requirements,” think again.

This isn't just a YouTube thing. This is an internet thing.

Article 13 isn’t a bill against YouTube but rather designed in principle to protect the rights of creative artists to give them more protection of their copyright content. This is definitely a good thing, but it will have unintended consequences.

Article 13 will affect every distribution platform including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat just to name a few.

It will impact all sorts of video creators on the internet whether it be parody content memes or educational content — all of these things will be drastically affected by Article 13 if it’s pushed into law as it’s currently written.

It's impossible to say just what the landscape will be on YouTube in 2019 as Article 13 is not yet law, which is why we’re talking about it right now.

What we do know is that Article 13 directly affects a lot of people and indirectly affects everybody on the planet.

If this is important to you, follow the movement #SaveYourInternet, and get educated on these subjects — specifically, check out 

YouTube’s dedicated webpage on Article 13

What does Article 13 mean for video creators around the globe? Here’s what we know so far, and where you can learn more about Article 13 and #SaveYourInternet

Could Article 13 KILL YouTube? #SaveYourInternet

To kick off 2019, we've got 10 practical resolutions to help you get more views, more subscribers and ultimately grow your channel.

The YouTube channel banner is essentially an advertising billboard for your channel. Ensure it demonstrates to visitors:

What you do on your channel Why you do it Why you’re the person to do it (authority and passion)

Your YouTube channel banner should be consistent with the branding, colour and design of the video thumbnails. And don’t forget to make sure it’s mobile friendly, so the edges don’t get cut off.

2. Write a compelling channel description

The channel description in the YouTube About section is what visitors will read when they search and find your channel. Think about writing your channel description as if you were writing a tweet of 140 characters — people have very short attention spans, so it should be clear and concise.

Whether you’re a fan of New Year’s resolutions or not, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to growing your YouTube channel.