What Is Creator Suggested?

It’s a surprisingly powerful new metric that monitors the amount of videos YouTube is recommending back to a publisher’s own channel.

In the Budweiser Super Bowl Puppy Love video, we’re tracking a rating of 4/20, meaning 4 of the 20 videos YouTube is recommending after the video and on the sidebar are also on the Budweiser channel.

It’s not as glamorous as some other metrics, but this has huge implications for channel (and thus brand) engagement. Think about it: someone loved your video and watched it to the end, but then what? Either they hit the search bar to find something similar (which is probably going to be on someone else’s channel), or they’re so engaged they can’t help but click to watch another in the recommendations. The more of those videos that are on your channel, the higher the total views your channel will receive when those videos explode, and the better your brand sticks with each viewer.

Breaking Down the Score

4/20: This is the lowest Creator Suggested rating a channel can have and a sign the channel isn’t focused enough on playlists, proper metadata, and annotations.

6/20 – 10/20: You’re on your way! We’ve seen great channels averaging around here, like The Verge and American Express.

12/20 – 16/20: If you’re here, you’re killing it. This channel is likely in the ranks of Red Bull, Buzzfeed, and Old Spice.

20/20: At this point, you’ve likely been “whitelisted” by YouTube. We’ve seen some huge non-profits, political parties, and brands spending a significant amount on YouTube to get here. ARDrone, Nintendo, and The Olympics are great examples.

An Example of Creator Suggested at Work

As of writing this, we are seeing the University of Minnesota have a very viral moment with Guy Pulls Out Sign on Gophers Kiss Cam. They worked to get a 19/20 on Creator Suggested, and that will pay off as this video drives a massive amount of views and increased watch time throughout their YouTube channel. That’s more watches, shares, and engagement with their canon of videos, leading to exponentially more total views as people continue flocking to them.

If you take a second to look through the channel, you can see they didn’t get here by luck, or even a huge budget. They just consistently upload content, grow their subscribers, annotate, and actively playlist content.

There’s no secret to success like this, just sound YouTube marketing practice. And sound practice starts with the right data to build it on, which can all be yours with the vidIQ Chrome Extension.

Don’t have the vidIQ Chrome Extension? Make sure to download it here.