What’s your average view duration on YouTube? For every video you post, do people watch to the end or leave midway?

To us, a 50% duration is phenomenal. It’s hard to get viewers to go any further than that. Meeting or even crossing the 50% threshold means you’re doing something right on YouTube.

If you’re not there yet, don’t worry. We have two suggestions to increase your average view duration:

Post some YouTube Shorts on your channel.

Shorts, which are vertical videos of less than a minute, are capable of holding viewers’ attention. It’s easy to finish a video that’s only 20 or 30 seconds long.

4 Tips to Grow Your Channel With YouTube Shorts

That creates a huge opportunity for you. By posting quality Shorts, you can get close to a 100% view duration, on average. This helps you penetrate the YouTube algorithm, which suggests videos with a high Watch Time to viewers. And if you 

 – videos that have no discernable end or beginning – you can convince someone to watch twice, which doubles your Watch Time.

How to Get 4,000 Hours of Watch Time and Monetize Your Channel

 of 4.9 million subscribers. Viewers used to watch nearly 100% of his content. That percentage climbed to almost 200% when he started looping his 3D Minecraft Shorts. Without realizing it, viewers were watching each video twice.

The screenshot below shows Fellman's average view duration, which doubled from January to April.

Here’s how Fellman looped his Shorts to earn more Watch Time.

Fellman is used to getting several million views on a Short. He’s been doing that for months now, so the numbers have to change drastically for him to take notice.

One day, he posted a Short of a skeleton getting shot with a red arrow. It performed so much better than his previous videos, even though they had millions of views. So he decided to investigate.

“When it clicked in my head that I needed to start making loops, was when the arrowhead video went from one million to 20 million views in the course of a couple of days – which just never happens with any videos,” Fellman says. “It did 15 million views in 48 hours. Typically, my top-performing video in 48 hours, for a good week, tops off around three or four million.”

The looped arrowhead video is titled “Minecraft RTX 24% Arrowhead Loop.” Press play below to view the Short, which seems to have no beginning or end:

YouTube has a built-in loop function for Shorts. If the viewer doesn’t swipe to the next video, the same Short plays again. When the replay creates a perfect loop, someone can mistakenly watch a video twice – maybe three times – before realizing the video is over. That’s when the Watch Time soars above 100%.

Want to increase your Watch Time? Do these three things to make Shorts that seemingly play forever.

 Fellman’s looped Shorts are rarely longer than seven or eight seconds. The longer a video is, the harder it will be to replicate a scene without the viewer realizing what happened.

Add one still frame to the beginning and end of your Short. 

On YouTube, there’s a brief delay before the start of a video. So if you rewatch a video, one second will pass before it plays again. Fellman takes advantage of the delay by adding a still frame to the beginning and end of his Shorts. The frames are identical, so it’s difficult to know the video has looped after two plays.

If the music in your Short doesn’t loop perfectly, it ruins the effect. Viewers will instantly know they’re watching a loop.

Looping a Short to get more Watch Time feels like a grimy hack. But according to YouTube, that’s exactly what you should be doing as a creator. It’s one of the growth strategies YouTube suggested in a recent 

In the screenshot above, you’ll see some of the same tactics Fellman uses. YouTube encourages creators to make really short videos and add frames to the end if they want to create loops.

But maybe you’re just getting started with Shorts. If you aren’t in the looping phase just yet, 

 to increase views on short, vertical videos.

This simple hack for YouTube Shorts will help you double your Watch Time. Keep reading to harness the power of looped content.

How to Double Your YouTube Watch Time by Looping Shorts

Earning 4,000 hours of Watch Time is the dream for most creators, but it isn’t easy. Gaining 100 hours, sure. But thousands? That’ll test your determination to keep going on YouTube. Essentially, you have to post multiple videos and hope people watch them for long enough.

But once you have 4,000 hours, everything gets easier. You’ll be one step closer to applying to the YouTube Partner Program, which lets you monetize your channel with advertisements. Having those valuable hours allows you to focus on other things, too, like 

. That’s the second milestone required for the YPP.

YouTube Partner Program – How to Monetize Your Channel

When you’re collecting Watch Time hours, it’s easy to overlook certain parts of the process. The biggest, most understated thing, is that 

These 5 Videos Aren’t Eligible for YPP Watch Time

Before you start earning Watch Time, know which videos are in your best interest to create. There are five videos that make it hard – in most cases, impossible – to reach 4,000 hours.

Years ago, private and unlisted videos counted toward YPP Watch Time. 

 when YouTube decided that public videos, not partially viewable content, could accumulate watch hours.

prioritize public videos over private or unlisted ones.

 Unlisted videos can only be watched if certain people have the link. This privacy option benefits creators with specific content plans. They may want to send videos to friends and family or create a webinar for a limited audience.

If you’re trying to monetize your channel, unlisted and private videos aren’t very helpful. Make sure videos that need to be public are, in fact, set to public. That’ll help you reach 4,000 hours and apply to the YPP.

How to set private or unlisted videos to public on YouTube

Log in to YouTube on desktop. Click your profile icon and select 

You’ll see a list of all the videos on your channel. Find the videos you want to make public, then go to the 

 column. Click the eyeball symbol to reveal a menu of options: private, unlisted, members only, and public. Choose 

 from your monetizable total. For example, imagine your channel has 2,000 watch hours. If you delete a video that contributed 500 of those hours, you’ll be left with 1,500. Before you delete anything, check to see how many watch hours your content has earned.

Sometimes deleting a video is inevitable. Maybe you’ve grown as a person since it was first published and want to clean up your image. Or perhaps someone appeared in your video without prior consent, and they want you to take it down. Whatever the reason, make sure it’s worth deleting a video and losing precious watch hours.

Have you created video ads for YouTube? If you were hoping these would help you apply to the YPP, unfortunately, they won’t. Watch hours from advertising campaigns don’t count toward YouTube monetization. Even if you’ve earned 10,000 hours, none of it will go toward the 4,000 hours you need.

This seems fair because ads can get millions of views. If YouTube counts them for YPP acceptance, that’ll create a shortcut to monetization.

Short, vertical videos and how they relate to the YPP is a complicated subject. We know that 

; YouTube made that clear a few months ago. The platform also announced that Watch Time from Shorts doesn’t contribute to a creator’s 4,000-hour goal. But will this change in the future? Is there a monetization program just for Shorts in the works?

Only time will tell. For now, know that Shorts won’t help you monetize your channel – not quickly, at least.

There’s a small caveat to this statement, though. If a Short is viewed on the Shorts shelf, a display area for brief, vertical videos, it won’t earn YPP watch hours. But if the same video is viewed on a regular watch page with YouTube ads and a comment section, you can earn eligible Watch Time.

So while Shorts are mostly viewed on the Shorts shelf, they 

 get played in monetizable areas. If you need all the watch hours you can get, take advantage of this loophole. Those seconds, however small, add up.

Live streams are a great way to increase your Watch Time. These videos are usually lengthy, and if people stick around until the end, you can add several hours to your analytics.

According to YouTube, live streams that aren’t converted to video-on-demand content won’t earn YPP watch hours. The information around this is pretty vague, so we'd suggest making sure your live streams are public when they've ended. Don't archive a live stream by setting it to unlisted or private. 

Just to be sure, we asked YouTube if this advice made sense for creators. 

We didn't get a straightforward answer, but creators chimed in with their personal experience. A few of them said they earn Watch Time both during and after a live stream, which includes video-on-demand viewing.

Whether these hours were recorded for YPP Watch Time is another story. That's why, as soon as possible, we'd recommend checking to see if your live stream is public after it ends. If it's unlisted or private, switch it to public.

How to Get 4,000 Hours of YouTube Watch Time

 That means in addition to regular videos, posting lengthy live streams and experimenting with Shorts. The latter isn’t going to bring you quick success. The Watch Time you earn, if you earn any at all, will depend on where people watch the video. Shorts should complement your regular videos and live streams because all the Watch Time accumulates.

be intentional with the videos you upload.

 It’s easier to earn watch hours when you post videos that are relevant all year. Anything about making more money, product reviews, and video games with lasting popularity are good examples. People continue to search for these evergreen topics on YouTube.

 Instead of posting 30 videos in 30 days, aim to create videos that are entertaining, informative, and completely cover a topic. That could be 15 videos that answer every question about a topic, complete with video chapters and detailed instructions. Provide as much value as you can to make people watch longer.

Create a diverse set of content (regular videos, live streams, Shorts).

Post evergreen content that’s always relevant.

Give your video so much value that people can’t click away.

Make Money on YouTube – How to Get 4000 Hours Watch Time

Earning 4,000 hours of YouTube Watch Time is a major undertaking. If you need more clarification on how to do it, watch our explainer video below:

Put these suggestions to action, and you’ll eventually reach 4,000 hours of Watch Time. But don’t stop there. Your next goal should be applying to the YPP, which you can learn how to do 

You need 4,000 hours of Watch Time to monetize your YouTube channel. Unfortunately, the five videos below may slow your progress toward reaching that big, desirable goal.

YouTube Monetization: Which Videos Count Toward 4,000 Hours of Watch Time?

In this post (and in the video above), we're going to guide you through what it takes to get 4000 hours of Watch Time on YouTube.

We're all adults here, so I'm not going to insult your intelligence and ask you why you want to get 4000 hours of Watch Time. It's obvious - it's the only way you're going to be able to monetize your content on the platform. 4000 hours of Watch Time was never a milestone for any creator until YouTube introduced it as a rule for 

. Now that YouTube has set that unique benchmark, let's find out what Watch Time is all about.

What Does 4000 hours of YouTube Watch Time Actually Mean?

In order for the 4000 hours of Watch Time to count, your videos have to be public. So that means you can't do a live stream, and then set it to unlisted. You also can't make videos and then six months down the line, delete them or set them to private. They have to remain public to count.

Also, you have to achieve that 4000 hours in 12 consecutive months. So, from today's date, going back 365 days. The videos don't need to have been published in the last 12 months, but they need to have been watched on your channel in the last 52 weeks.

But we have covered the 4000 hours topic to within an inch of its life 

 so please take time to watch if you want more details.

How to Keep track of 4000 Hours of YouTube Watch Time

If you want to keep track of your Watch Time hours, YouTube Studio has a dedicated page in the left-hand navigation panel called ‘Monetization’. This will show you both subscriber and Watch Time progress.

Alternatively, if you want to keep tabs on your Watch Time, subscribe account, and other channel stats, anywhere on YouTube, 

, and you'll get this awesome realtime stats bar. No need to worry about the price either, this one's on us, completely free.

Why 4000 Hours of YouTube Watch Time is a Major Creator Goal

With that all being said, let's get into mindset. This is something I frequently talk about with creators who have these types of goals in mind. If you start a YouTube channel with the sole intention of getting 

4000 hours of Watch Time, and 1000 subscribers,

 and then monetizing your content, then I'm afraid to say, the majority of you are never going to make it.

First of all, you're thinking far too much about yourself, as opposed to your audience. Second of all, it's too big a goal to achieve when you first start out on YouTube.

__4000 hours of Watch Time is a lot. It's 240,000 minutes or to put it in another way, it's a single person watching your content continuously for 166.6 days. __

If you publish your first video on YouTube, and you get just an hour of Watch Time out of it, over the first week, I would be pretty satisfied with that. Not going to lie - 4000 hours of Watch Time is hard for a reason.

YouTube wants as much data as possible out of your content so that it can trust you with their advertising partners. Remember, it's not YouTube who's paying you directly, it's those advertisers. YouTube essentially is a middleman in this case, and it needs to make sure that the content it broadcasts on its platform doesn't create controversy. There has been a whole ton of that in the last decade.

__And this is where we've ended up, 1000 subscribers, 4000 hours of Watch Time. __

Now, some people may disagree with this but I believe YouTube doesn't owe you anything. They allow you to broadcast your content to a global audience for free. When you are, over time, able to prove yourself to your audience and YouTube, then yes, let's start making some money together. But don't see monetization as an entitlement, see it as a privilege. Work for it, earn it, respect it.

Why Evergreen Content is the Key to Watch Time Success

Take a look at these stats. They are real-time view counts for some of our best performing videos on the vidIQ YouTube channel. Notice anything in particular? Take a look at the publish date:

Almost all of these videos were published more than six months ago, and yet today they still bring in thousands of daily views for us. These videos work for the channel days, weeks, months, even years after I've published them.

You've probably heard of these types of videos before. They are evergreen content, and we've done a very detailed case study into how we implemented that strategy into our channel:

To get discovered on YouTube can be quite difficult. One of the ways to do that is for your content to appear in the search results. If you can answer questions, provide valuable information on topics people are searching for, especially if those topics are recent, for example, the latest software update on a game, new beauty products, the latest tech, etc, you can establish yourself in the search for those topics.

And depending on the shelf life of that topic, your videos can last longer in terms of getting views, and Watch Time. It may not be as sexy as viral content that gets you lots of views in a very short space of time. But if you get it right, you can see your videos generate consistent views over a long period of time.

We've seen this happen many times on our YouTube channel. And once you have 5 or 10 pieces of evergreen content, you'll soon see your views graph go up and to the right, and you'll rapidly start chasing those 4000 hours of Watch Time.

How Live Streams Can Accelerate Watch Time Hours

If you're a user or follower of VidIQ, you’ll know that every Tuesday, we do 

 where you submit your YouTube channel, and we give you constructive criticism.

When we first started doing these live streams two years ago, we were getting maybe 50 to 100 people watching them. Now we get on average between 600 and 700 people. And every time we check our live stream analytics, we see Watch Time bombs!

if 600 people watch a two-hour live stream, that's 1200 hours of Watch Time

. Now I can't promise you those types of numbers, and I wouldn't even recommend it doing live streams when you first start your YouTube channel, because the chances are, you might not get a single person joining you on it.

When you're 6, or even 9 months into your YouTube journey, and you have built up an audience of a few hundred subscribers, even if you get maybe 10 or 20 people joining you for a live stream for one or two hours, that's a nice bit of Watch Time.

Those people who join your live streams are your super fans. They care about you and your progress on the YouTube platform. But it does take time to cultivate that audience.

Here at VidIQ, we've been live streaming for two years. But in the last few months, something amazing has happened, and it seems to have happened organically. A meme culture has sprouted up around the live streams, and we've embraced this so much so that we incentivize our viewers to make fun of us in exchange for channel audits.

We have no idea it was going to go in this direction, but we love this type of community engagements, and apparently so do you. So when you find your YouTube audience, make that audience your community, part of your channel, and you can do that through live streams, which means lots of Watch Time for you.

Why Consistency is Key to YouTube Watch Time Growth

Don't get me wrong, viral videos are a wonderful thing. They really give your channel a kick up the backside. But I never go into the video-making process with the intention of making a viral video. It's just a very happy and very welcome bonus when it does happen. When people ask this question, and they do genuinely ask it, "How do I make viral content?" This is my answer:

"Aim to make better content on a consistent basis"

Be consistent with every aspect of your YouTube workflow, whether it’s the way you film, the scripts that you write, how you present on camera, how you edit, the custom thumbnails you create, or the titles that you write - aim to improve on your previous content by 1% or 2% every time.

If you create 50 to 100 videos over a year, you'll look back at those videos from 12 months ago and say, "Wow, those were terrible, but look where I am today." If you put all of your effort into just one video, determined that this is going to be your viral moment, you are going to drive yourself insane, and 

you'll burn out on YouTube very, very quickly

Let me give you an example. We launched our 

 just over a year ago, and at first the channel grew very slowly. But we knew we were creating good content on a consistent basis. And once YouTube had enough data, and positive signals from our content, the channel started blowing up.

No viral videos, just good consistent content being shared more and more by YouTube to the right audience. And in the end, we didn't just reach 4000 hours of Watch Time, we crushed it. But we had to be patient. Now that content attracts pretty significant views like this one with 257K at time of writing:

The Secret to YouTube Watch Time Success: Quantity vs Quality

All right, let's start off with the obvious. Everybody wants to create the best quality content they can, but at what point do you reach diminishing returns? Is it worth putting in extra resources to make this video even better, or there is a cutoff point where you end the video and say, "I'm going to move on to the next thing?

It’s that classic question of quality versus quantity. My personal opinion is that quantity has more value to you as a creator when you first start out on YouTube. Let me explain.

First of all the experience you build by being consistent on YouTube helps you learn how the platform works. If you're focused solely on making videos all of the time, and never take the time to read the comments you attract or the metrics, you're never quite sure how your audience is going to react to that content.

Second of all, the more videos you publish on YouTube, the more data YouTube has to play with, in terms of serving up your content to the right audience. Think of it as filling out an application form. The more boxes you tick, and the more thorough your answers are, the faster and more efficiently this application form can be processed.

Also, when it's time-sensitive content, you really do need to consider how fast you can a video out. For example, when there is a big new story, yes, you could spend an extra few hours or even days working on the video to make it of higher quality, but then you're losing out on the potential audience that wants that information right now.

Now, this is not a hard and fast rule. For example, 

 is a very popular tech YouTuber, who does amazing reviews on products. But he doesn't try and rush those reviews out as a product is released.

He may do a quick hands on when it first comes out, but then he spends a considerable amount of time creating a very high-quality piece of content after. So in this sense, he gets the best of both worlds, a video that rides the waves of a trending news story, and then a really high quality, very high-value video for his audience. Like this one:

And finally, when you're creating content as a new channel, you don't have the volume to send YouTube enough positive signals so it recommends that content for a longer period of time.

How to Analyse YouTube Data to Understand Watch Time

There are a lot of YouTube education channels out there, ourselves included, but you know who else is a really good YouTube educator? It's YouTube itself with all the data they have to offer you.

Ignore YouTube's analytics at your peril. If you didn't already know this, on the ‘Reach’ tab of the ‘Analytics’ dashboard in YouTube Studio, there is a data funnel of impressions, click-through rates, and Watch Time stats.

If you mouse over the information icon, it tells you in YouTube's own words, that you can increase the chance of YouTube suggesting your content by increasing click through rates, and your video Watch Time.

When it comes to Watch Time, you can analyze each video in great detail by looking at the audience retention. You can do this via the ‘Videos’ dashboard on YouTube Studio.

Of course, you want to get as high a Watch Time as possible, and while there is no magic Watch Time percentage, if you're getting over 50% consistently, you're doing a good job. People usually abandon videos when they are bored, or when the video doesn't deliver what was promised in the title in the thumbnail.

Through this graph, you can see where you might have pain points. Maybe your intro is far too long for example and you lose viewers before you even start.

Every once in a while, check out your audience retention on the last 5 to 10 videos and determine whether or not there is a consistent pattern of audience dropping off your content.

And while we're on the subject of Watch Time, and audience visualization, don't fall into the trap of making longer videos in an attempt to get more Watch Time. Make the video as long as it needs to be for your audience.

For example, we cannot make a video on how to delete a YouTube video for 20 minutes. But we can create a bite-sized, two to three minute video, that gives the viewer exactly what they want. It also gives YouTube positive signals and launches our content to the top of the search rankings.

We received hundreds of comments from the vidIQ community saying that they wanted to get 1000 subscribers so that they could get a 

We already knew we had a lot of gamers who follow and watch VidIQ, but what we didn't realize was just how many of those gamers play Fortnite, and specifically want this Support-A-Creator pack.

While it is true that you will find out a lot about your general audience from YouTube analytics, you'll never find out key nuggets of information like that. And all we had to do was simply ask you our audience a question. and I bet you can guess what we did with that information.

That's right, we assigned Dan, our gaming expert, to get the answers that you needed, and to create a video on that topic. At the ti,e of writing, the video has generated nearly 150K views, and perhaps more importantly, now sits at the top of the YouTube rankings for a very juicy search term.

Given the evergreen potential of this video, I think that if it stays at the top of the search rankings, it will have half a million views by the end of the year.

If your community is generating video ideas for you, and they respond really well to those videos, you'll get to 4000 hours of Watch Time in no time.

 then make sure to download vidIQ. Over 1 million creators use vidIQ to help with keyword and competitor research, channel audits, and so much more. 

If you’re serious about growing your YouTube views and subscribers, sign up for exclusive access to the 

. Learn how to launch a successful YouTube Channel in just 30 days.

Want to get 4000 hours of Watch Time on YouTube so you can begin to monetize your content? Find out how with our new guide!

Make Money on YouTube: How to Get 4000 Hours Watch Time

En este post (y en el vídeo anterior), vamos a guiarte sobre lo que se necesita para conseguir 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización en YouTube.

Todos somos adultos aquí, así que no voy a insultar tu inteligencia y preguntarte por qué quieres tener 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización. Es obvio, es la única manera de poder monetizar tu contenido en la plataforma. 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización nunca fue un objetivo para ningún creador hasta que YouTube lo introdujo como una regla para aplicar para el 

. Ahora que YouTube ha establecido ese punto de referencia único, averigüemos de qué se trata el tiempo de visualización.

¿Qué significan realmente 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización en YouTube?

Para que las 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización cuenten, tus vídeos tienen que ser públicos. Eso significa que no se puede hacer una transmisión en vivo, y luego configurarla para que no aparezca en la lista. Tampoco puedes hacer vídeos y luego seis meses después, borrarlos o convertirlos en privados. Tienen que permanecer como públicos para que cuenten.

Además, tienes que alcanzar esas 4000 horas en 12 meses consecutivos. Así que, a partir de la fecha de hoy, retrocediendo 365 días. No es necesario que los vídeos hayan sido publicados en los últimos 12 meses, pero sí que hayan sido vistos en tu canal en las últimas 52 semanas.

Pero hemos cubierto el tema de las 4000 horas casi hasta el final 

, así que por favor, tómate tu tiempo para verlo si quieres más detalles.

Cómo llevar la cuenta de las 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización en YouTube

Si quieres llevar un registro de las horas de tu tiempo de visualización, YouTube Studio tiene una página dedicada en el panel de navegación de la izquierda llamada "Monetización". Esto te mostrará el progreso del suscriptor y del tiempo de visualización.

Por otro lado, si quieres controlar tu tiempo de visualización, tu cuenta de suscripción y otras estadísticas del canal, en cualquier lugar de YouTube, 

 y obtendrás esta increíble barra de estadísticas en tiempo real. No hay necesidad de que te preocupes por el precio tampoco, este va por nuestra cuenta, completamente gratis.

¿Por qué 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización en YouTube es una meta importante para el creador?

Con todo eso dicho, adoptemos la mentalidad. Esto es algo de lo que hablo frecuentemente con los creadores que tienen este tipo de objetivos en mente. Si empiezas un canal de YouTube con la única intención de conseguir 

 y 1000 suscriptores, y luego monetizar tu contenido, entonces temo decirte que muchos nunca lo lograrán.

En primer lugar, piensas demasiado en ti mismo, en vez de en tu audiencia. En segundo lugar, es un objetivo demasiado grande para lograrlo al empezar en YouTube.

__4000 horas de tiempo de visualización es mucho. Son 240.000 minutos o, para decirlo de otra manera, es una sola persona viendo tu contenido continuamente durante 166,6 días. __

Si publicas tu primer vídeo en YouTube, y obtienes solo una hora de tiempo de visualización del mismo, durante la primera semana, estaría bastante satisfecho con eso. No voy a mentir - 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización es difícil por una razón.

YouTube quiere la mayor cantidad de datos posible de tu contenido para poder confiarte sus socios publicitarios. Recuerda, no es YouTube quien te paga directamente, son esos anunciantes. YouTube es básicamente un intermediario en este caso, y necesita asegurarse de que el contenido que difunde en su plataforma no genere controversia. Ha habido una gran cantidad de este tipo de cosas en la última década.

__Y aquí es donde hemos terminado, 1000 suscriptores, 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización. __

Bien, algunas personas pueden estar en desacuerdo con esto pero creo que YouTube no te debe nada. Te permiten emitir tu contenido a una audiencia global de forma gratuita. Cuando, con el tiempo, seas capaz de demostrar tu valor a tu público y a YouTube, entonces sí, empezaremos a ganar algo de dinero juntos. Pero no veas la monetización como un derecho, sino como un privilegio. Trabaja por ella, gánatela, respétala.

Por qué el contenido perenne es la clave para lograr el éxito del tiempo de visualización

Echa un vistazo a estas estadísticas. Son sumas de las vistas en cuanto al tiempo de visualización en tiempo real de algunos de nuestros vídeos de mayor rendimiento en el canal vidIQ de YouTube. ¿Notas algo en particular? Echa un vistazo a la fecha de publicación:

Casi todos estos vídeos se publicaron hace más de seis meses, y sin embargo hoy en día todavía nos aportan miles de vistas diarias. Estos vídeos funcionan para el canal días, semanas, meses, incluso años después de que los publique.

Probablemente has oído hablar de este tipo de vídeos antes. Son de contenido perenne, y hemos hecho un estudio de caso muy detallado sobre cómo implementamos esa estrategia en nuestro canal:

Ser descubierto en YouTube puede ser bastante difícil. Una de las formas de hacerlo es que tu contenido aparezca en los resultados de la búsqueda. Si puedes responder a las preguntas, proporcionar información valiosa sobre los temas que la gente busca, especialmente si esos temas son recientes, por ejemplo, la última actualización de software de un juego, nuevos productos de belleza, lo último en tecnología, entre otros, puedes establecerte en la búsqueda de esos temas.

Y dependiendo de la vida útil de ese tema, tus vídeos pueden durar más tiempo en términos de obtener vistas, y tiempo de visualización. Puede que no sea tan sexy como el contenido viral que te consigue muchas vistas en un espacio de tiempo muy corto. Pero si lo haces bien, puedes ver que tus vídeos generan vistas consistentes durante un largo período de tiempo.

Hemos visto esto suceder muchas veces en nuestro canal de YouTube. Y una vez que tengas 5 o 10 piezas de contenido perenne, pronto verás tu gráfico de vistas subir y a la derecha, y rápidamente empezarás a perseguir esas 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización.

Cómo las transmisiones en vivo pueden acelerar las horas de tiempo de visualización

Si eres un usuario o seguidor de vidIQ, sabrás que todos los martes, 

hacemos una auditoría de canales en vivo

 donde envías tu canal de YouTube, y te damos una crítica constructiva.

Cuando empezamos a hacer estas transmisiones en vivo hace dos años, teníamos entre 50 y 100 personas viéndolas. Ahora tenemos en promedio entre 600 y 700 personas. ¡Y cada vez que revisamos nuestros análisis de las transmisiones en vivo, vemos las bombas de los tiempos de visualización!

si 600 personas ven una transmisión en vivo de dos horas, son 1200 horas de tiempo de visualización

. No puedo prometerte ese tipo de cifras, y ni siquiera te recomendaría hacer transmisiones en vivo cuando inicies tu canal de YouTube, porque lo más probable es que no te acompañe ni una sola persona.

Cuando tienes 6, o incluso 9 meses en tu aventura en YouTube, y has acumulado una audiencia de unos pocos cientos de suscriptores, incluso si consigues que 10 o 20 personas se unan a ti para una transmisión en vivo durante una o dos horas, es un buen momento para el tiempo de visualización.

La gente que se une a tus transmisiones en vivo son tus súper fanáticos. Se preocupan por ti y tu progreso en la plataforma de YouTube. Pero toma tiempo cultivar esa audiencia.

Aquí en vidIQ, hemos estado transmitiendo en vivo durante dos años. Pero en los últimos meses, algo asombroso ha sucedido, y parece haber sucedido de manera orgánica. Una cultura meme ha surgido en torno a las transmisiones en vivo, y la hemos adoptado tanto que incentivamos a nuestros espectadores a divertirse con nosotros a cambio de auditorías de canales.

No tenemos ni idea de que iría en esta dirección, pero nos encanta este tipo de interacciones con la comunidad, y aparentemente a ti también. Así que cuando tengas tu audiencia en YouTube, haz que esa audiencia sea tu comunidad, parte de tu canal, y puedes hacerlo a través de transmisiones en vivo, lo que significa mucho tiempo de visualización para ti.

Por qué la consistencia es la clave para el crecimiento del tiempo de visualización en YouTube

No me malinterpretes, los vídeos virales son algo maravilloso. Realmente le dan a tu canal un empujón abismal. Pero nunca entro en el proceso de creación de un vídeo con la intención de hacer un vídeo viral. Es un bono muy feliz y muy agradable cuando sucede. Cuando la gente se hace esta pregunta, y lo hace genuinamente, "¿Cómo hago contenido viral?" Ésta es mi respuesta:

"Intenta mejorar el contenido sobre una base consistente"

Sé coherente con todos los aspectos de tu flujo de trabajo en YouTube, ya sea la forma en que filmas, los guiones que escribes, la forma en que te presentas ante la cámara, la forma en que editas, las miniaturas personalizadas que creas o los títulos que escribes - apunta a mejorar tu contenido anterior en un 1% o 2% cada vez.

Si creas de 50 a 100 vídeos en un año, mirarás esos vídeos de hace 12 meses y dirás: "Vaya, eran terribles, pero mira dónde estoy ahora". Si pones todo tu esfuerzo en un solo vídeo, determinando que este va a ser tu momento viral, te vas a volver loco, y 

te quemarás en YouTube muy, muy rápidamente

Déjame darte un ejemplo. Lanzamos nuestro 

 hace poco más de un año, y al principio el canal creció muy lentamente. Pero sabíamos que estábamos creando un buen contenido de forma consistente. Y una vez que YouTube tuvo suficientes datos, y señales positivas de nuestro contenido, el canal comenzó a florecer.

No hay vídeos virales, solo contenido bueno y consistente que se comparte cada vez más por YouTube a la audiencia adecuada. Y al final, no solo alcanzamos las 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización, sino que las aplastamos. Pero debíamos ser pacientes. Ahora ese contenido atrae vistas bastante significativas como esta con 257K en el momento de escribir este artículo:

El secreto para conseguir el éxito en cuanto al tiempo de visualización en YouTube: Cantidad vs. Calidad

De acuerdo, empecemos con lo obvio. Todo el mundo quiere crear el mejor contenido de calidad posible, pero ¿en qué punto alcanzas rendimientos decrecientes? ¿Vale la pena poner recursos extra para hacer este vídeo aún mejor, o hay un punto límite en el que terminas el vídeo y dices: "Voy a pasar a la siguiente cosa"?

¿Quieres tener 4000 horas de tiempo de visualización en YouTube para empezar a monetizar tu contenido? ¡Descubre cómo con nuestra nueva guía!

Posts tagged with "youtube watch time"