Youtube Average View Duration – The 50% Rule

YouTube can be an absolutely fantastic tool for generating traffic to your blog. If you utilize our YouTube tips here, (YouTube #1 FAQ and Video Marketing is Like Baseball) you can even start to make a little extra money from YouTube.

The 50% Rule For YouTube: Keep your videos short and include your call-to-action before the half-way mark.

Finding YouTube Average View Duration

We recently analyzed 56,000+ YouTube views across four small yet effective YouTube channels.

We found a significant drop-off in viewer retention around the half-way point of the video. We found this interesting because the channels are each very different from one another. The channels vary in content types and average video length, ranging from pure entertainment to educational and 1 min average videos to 8 min average videos. Each YouTube average view duration was somewhere around 50-60% of the total video length.

If you are using these videos to promote a product or service and are placing your ad overlay on the video be sure to include it in the first half of your video, a large portion of your audience may never see it if you have it towards the end.

BTW, What Is A Good Average View Duration?

Looking at many other channels that have their statistics publicly visible, losing 50-60% of your viewers by the half-way point is very common. There will always be a drop-off in viewer retention at the end of your video, people feel they have seen the content they were looking for and move on or they have clicked a link you placed (on purpose) in your video.

For most videos, an average view duration in the 70-80% range is performing well. Anything above that is a very well constructed video. But remember, if your desired outcome is to have your viewer click a link placed in your video, a steep drop off at that moment will reduce your average view duration but indicate an effective video.