Not long ago, YouTube released a tool that shows the most replayed segments of a video. It was initially rolled out to YouTube Premium subscribers, but now it's available for all mobile and desktop viewers.
This feature is a huge step forward for viewer satisfaction. Instead of pressing play and not knowing what to expect, anyone can see the best part of a video and fast-forward to that scene.
So, what's the catch? Well, it's not exactly geared toward video creators. That same tool lets viewers skip around, see the good stuff, and leave your video prematurely.
But there is one upside. The most replayed tool shows you which scenes viewers loved the most. Studying those moments will help you understand what excites your audience and hopefully make better content.
YouTube's new tool shows more than just the popular parts of a video. In fact, the first thing you'll notice is a graph flowing up and down on your video's timeline. It shows the most and least popular moments within your content.
This graph only appears when a viewer seeks through your video to find different scenes. And as they do, they'll eventually reach a section where the graph peaks. This high point is called the most replayed segment — the scene or collection of scenes viewers watched repeatedly.
At that moment, YouTube shows three things on the screen:
After you identify popular segments, it's time to figure out why they're popular in the first place. What made people return to those scenes? Why were they more valuable than others?
Here are three questions to ask yourself:
Number three has happened several times on the vidIQ channel. We've introduced a problem, offered a solution, and hoped that would be enough to satisfy viewers. But with the most replayed tool, we don't have to assume something is working; we can confirm by hovering over the video's timeline!
For example, in our older video about how to get 1,000 subscribers, the most replayed scene offers a solution to that problem. We talked about a YouTube tool that shows which videos make new viewers return to your channel. Knowing this detail is the first step to gaining more subscribers, so it's an excellent solution for beginner creators.
Watch the segment below to see its value:
Why viewers loved this "most replayed" section:
Do this exercise on your channel and see what you come away with. Maybe you'll discover that viewers love comedic moments, rare insights, or crazy stunts. Whatever it is, be sure to add more of it to your content.
OK, it's time to address the elephant in the room. If viewers already know the best part of your video, why would they watch the entire thing? And will this tool slowly reduce your channel's watch time?
Not quite. YouTube has been testing this tool for a while, and there are no issues so far.
"We heard concerns from creators that this feature would decrease watch time or negatively impact some content types. The good news is that in our experiment, we found that there's no statistically significant impact to watch time from showing these graphs," says Pierce (YouTube product manager) in a Creator Insider video.
To learn more about the most replayed tool, watch the video below:
Is the most replayed tool a gift and a curse for creators? It could be. But knowing your audience through and through is one way to keep growing despite platform changes.
Here's a guide for creating the exact videos subscribers want to see.
Lydia Sweatt is a writer, bookworm, and bass guitar enthusiast. When she goes outside, a bicycle goes with her.
