This 1 YouTube Metric is POWERFUL (5 Tips to Get Higher Video Retention)

Here’s how to grow your channel with a dramatically underused YouTube metric. I tear apart several real examples from real videos to show what’s working and what’s not, and improve audience retention.

Check out my YouTube program Project 24! https://channelmakers.com/go
This is why I made the program (and what’s in it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz0mVGR3JJc

I use vidIQ on my channel: https://vidiq.com/channelmakers
This is why I use vidIQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQcnJGC2mU

Chapters:
0:00 Why This is Part 2
0:25 REAL Data on Intros
3:07 How to Fix Intros
5:03 REAL Data on Spikes and Dips
6:10 What to Do About Spikes and Dips
7:13 Spikes and Dips: How to Fix
8:50 Why People Leave Videos
10:39 Congrats You Found the Timestamp Easter Egg
10:46 What About the End Screen?
13:05 REAL Data on Continuous Segments
14:24 How to Get More Continuous Segments
16:07 Annnd here’s another timestamp easter egg

Got something to share with me (feedback or an interesting YouTube find)? Go here: https://airtable.com/shre0hEysXMEeEz9g

#growonyoutube #youtubeanalytics

Legal Notice: Channel Makers is a product of Income School LLC. The “Channel Makers” name and O logo mark are trademarks of Income School LLC. Income School LLC is a limited liability company headquartered in Idaho, USA. Results mentioned not typical. No business is guaranteed to succeed, in fact, most new businesses will fail. It takes hard work, skill, and time for a new business to grow. The name “Project 24” is not a guarantee of success in 24 months, but refers to those who have a goal of creating an online business in 24 months. Some will succeed, others will not—just like any business.

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all right there you are howdy howdy

everyone nate here this video is a part

two in the first part i explained the

key moments of audience retention metric

and why it is so darn important and how

to read it in this part i’m going to be

going through several examples of real

videos with real screenshots of their

key moments of audience retention and

talking through what to interpret from

each of them as well as how to improve

on your own channel so let’s get right

into the examples alright so we have a

few videos here let’s look at the intros

first i ask for your notes a few data

points on it but if we look at the

analytics on this video this is from

ahead gaming05 and i do need to add this

again i people have accused me of being

worried of being too blunt in my videos

honestly i care about helping people

change but there’s still the part of me

that is a little bit of just it’s a

little bit afraid of offending people

just know that all of you who submitted

your videos knew that i was going to be

reviewing these and so this is all done

with permission i just have to do that

so i feel good

but anyway this first video from ahead

gaming05 if we look at the key moments

of audience retention we have a very

interesting thing going on here this was

about a four minute video we have a

dramatic drop and then an up spike right

here now why is that so if we look at

the video itself let’s look at the intro

so we’ve got our intro

and then something happens right here

let me pause it and i’ll show you

because i was scrubbing ahead i was

doing what a lot of people are doing

a lot of people are watching we already

know it’s normal for people to skip

ahead so that’s why the initial dip

right to about right here it’s normal

for people to skip ahead when people are

saying oh this is what my video is about

and people want to know hey is this

worth my time but then it’s a pretty big

dip right here and if we go back to the

video what happens right here

do you see the problem with that the

problem i have with this is not that

we’re asking people to subscribe it’s

that we’re asking people to subscribe at

the very beginning and this is very

different from the rest of the video and

it’s long if we look at how long this

goes

it is from second 15 to 24. that’s

almost 10 seconds long that’s way too

long for a call to action to subscribe

especially at the very beginning and

especially in in a very different format

from the rest of the video the rest of

the video is how to level up your clan

very fast in in this video game right

but

what does it show up as in our analytics

kablam we’ve got a drop off and then a

spike while people are getting past that

section the reason this is important is

because if there’s something in your

video that’s interrupting especially in

the intro and people are skipping it a

lot that’s going to be an indicator to

the algorithm that ah this there’s parts

of this video people don’t like so

they’re skipping around a lot or they’re

skipping forward or that you’re getting

a it’s lowering your metrics of average

view duration and average percentage

viewed so the comment the head gaming

zero five gave for that was people were

watching and liking but not subscribing

and then a text sad face here

the way to fix that in this instance is

to change your call to action take it

away from the beginning make it fit into

the body of the video itself so

something like hey

if you like this video if this is

helpful then i would appreciate it if

you would um subscribe and then remove

it from the intro of your video because

very rarely should you ever invite

people to subscribe within the first

minute of the video

so funny behind the scenes here because

this video was originally a single video

i split it into two parts i did not have

an invite to boop the like button in the

second part so i had to record it in

post while i was editing the first part

so if you wouldn’t mind if this video is

being helpful to you poop the like

button so it can spread to more people

thank you and let’s get back to the

video all right let’s look at another

one this is from dean mc pro this video

got quite a few views almost 100 000

views if we look at the analytics we’ve

got some crazy stuff going on in the

intro i’ve never seen one go jack jack

that jaggedy in the intro of a video uh

that pretty interesting but if we look

at the video it’s a six minute video

let’s open it up welcome to the top five

best better washer version what are we

seeing right off what is filling the

screen at the very beginning subscribe

and like so what are people doing

they’re going down here and saying whoa

whoa what am i uh i’m gonna jump ahead

up it’s still happening up it’s still

happening

uh oh okay now i’m at the content but it

only has a big number five okay now i’m

at the content this is going to reflect

in the key moments right here look jump

jump jump okay now i’m at the content

and now we’re going to watch at a fairly

average

view rate after that although the thing

here is that this is wow that drops off

quite a bit an average percentage viewed

of 15 for this video overall

not super good why are people dropping

off so much especially right here but

that i’m not supposed to be talking

about outros or dips right now but that

just stood out to me i hadn’t thought of

this before but there’s some reason why

a lot of people are dropping off at the

end of this video so if that is

happening in your own videos or if

you’re dean mc pro then look at that all

right next let’s talk about spikes and

dips this video is from scenic shoots uh

the video they have 22 subscribers they

got 36 views on it which is pretty darn

good if we look at this oh i know why i

chose this one i have never seen this

jaggedy of a key moments for audience

retention just

crazy crazy crazy jaggedy why is that

one is because we have a smaller data

set so it’s not gonna

the more views you have on a video the

more likely it is that it will kind of

smooth out because you have more data

points to pull from but this one

their note was very happy to have found

its channel i hope to join this program

at some point that would be awesome my

program project 24 if you aren’t aware

of it i do have a link in the

description there’s a video on my site

give you a tour of it and anyway that’s

the shameless plug for this video if you

have not yet heard of it then you should

definitely check it out anyway back to

this if we look at the video itself i’m

going to show you how i use the road

wireless go to on a number of real suits

all right so i’m going to show you how

to use a specific piece of equipment

this is a popular piece of equipment

that’s awesome but what are we seeing

immediately in the time stamps time

stamp overkill my friends that is too

many time stamps with a five-minute

video

usually a rule of thumb for time stamps

is you’re looking at every

45 seconds to

about two minutes that’s a general range

i might change my mind on that in the

future but about that range you don’t

want much shorter than that and some of

these are like three four seconds long

that is too short of time stamps because

what you’re doing is you’re causing

people to jump a lot and they’re not

watching you through the whole thing and

which is what is causing this jaggedy

jaggedy jaggedy

other than that this is a very high

quality video they’ve got great footage

um they obviously know their stuff

they’ve shared audio from the camera if

i were to say one thing for this video

that would make it so that that key

moments wasn’t so jaggedy and it had

more continuous segments it would be

make the pacing slightly faster and then

up the energy when you are on camera all

right let’s look at this other one this

video has almost 600 000 views on it and

their note is hey i already submitted

this video for another video what got

you the most subscribers on your channel

that was a good video by the way if you

haven’t watched it already you should go

check it out but let’s look at this

graph here

zoom and then huge spike and then drop

drop drop that is a big spike it is

rarely have i ever seen a spike go that

big on this key moments of audience

retention let’s look at the video that

is at about it’s an eight minute video

it’s about

two-ish minutes in two and a half

minutes and let’s look at the video okay

have you ever been in a situation where

you have an insane clutch

and your team is okay

all right if we do two and a half

minutes in oh look what happens right

here look at these timestamps what is

nvidia shadowplay so this is how to

record gaming clips with nvidia

experience shadowplay is good it’s very

searchable people are probably coming to

this video because of search but then

what’s happening here what is nvidia’s

shadowplay ah

why are people jumping to this point

because they already know what nvidia

shadow play is you see this the time

stamp here is what is in video shadow

play i already know what it is so i’m

going to jump ahead to

overview

2 minutes and 35 seconds in that’s funny

i didn’t even know that before looking

at this but if we look at the graph

yep that’s about at that point that

people are jumping ahead because now

they want to know how to use it so how

would we fix this video if i were to

remake this video i would go in and i

would get to the point faster because

what you’re going to do is when you show

that you’re answering their question

more quickly and the real intent that

they came there for then you’re not

going to have this drop off and then the

spike going on all right let’s look at

the next one this is from channel

takalaka if we look at the analytics

what are we seeing here got oh this is a

pretty good pretty good goal this is

we’re going to talk about dips now

on this key moments of audience

retention so we got to go actually we

have more than 100 here at the beginning

then we’ve got to drop off a little jump

a little jump and then a high point

oh two thirds of the way through and

then a big drop off now i gotta mention

this is a youtube short i think it’s a

youtube short is this a youtube short

is it no it’s not it’s just a very short

video but for some reason people were

skipping forward to this point in the

video we got a little jaggedy going on

let’s see what’s their note howdy howdy

nate i love your deep dive analytical

videos thank you and you’re welcome i

always watch 100 and boop the like

button thank you i appreciate that okay

if we look at this it’s how to use

medkit bandages in a video game

what are they doing

uh-huh

whoa do we have any audio

there is audio it’s just really quiet

whoa okay that’s why there’s some audio

it’s very quiet and nothing is happening

for the first 11 seconds of the video

and why is that an issue because the

video is only 36 seconds long and also

you should never have nothing happening

for a 10 seconds section of your video

that should never happen by the way

nothing is happening for 11 seconds and

then we jump forward

but then we’re still not quite getting

it

where are we at we’re almost halfway

through we look at the graph here

uh this is them right here this little

spike is people jumping forward from the

first 10 11 seconds is something happen

no it’s not is something happening no

it’s not ah this is where we get to it

and let’s jump forward to that point and

right here and this is where they get to

it that is why people are dropping off

there’s this dip and then they’re

looking for it and then the drop off get

this once they got what they came for

they’re out of there

they came for that they got it they’re

out of there this is one of the biggest

reasons for this next thing i’m going to

show you and that is the end of the

video if we look at this this is from

channel cc family and nyc uh the note is

keepa with good work nate i thought i

was an analytics nerd already until i

watched your video okay awesome thank

you i appreciate that uh if we look here

oh wow we’ve got a pretty good line here

so it’s a two minute 16 seconds

average view duration wow that’s pretty

good it’s a little bit easier with

shorter videos to have a higher average

percentage viewed because there’s less

time for people to jump around and less

attention that you need to hold on to

for the duration of video so this is

kind of normal but what do we have here

a dip at the end this is if i were to

guess this is two minutes long this is

probably the last 10-ish seconds of the

video we have a drop-off let’s look at

the video why that is happening

[Music]

okay we have that what is the video

about it’s will your dog protect you

from an intruder

it’s kind of humorous we’ve got these

pomeranians

and then they set up a scenario i think

yep someone comes in they set up a

scenario of somebody breaking in and see

what the dogs do it’s pretty funny if

you haven’t watched this

the dogs run away it’s it’s pretty funny

okay but if we look at this at the very

end let’s see the last 10 seconds

what’s happening here

okay we got this boom right there like

and subscribe for more fun

subscribe

wow that’s loud sorry

we have an end screen i have been

experimenting with end screens i have

mixed opinions on end screens hmm i have

mixed opinions from an audience

retention perspective they’re very bad

because of this very reason we look at

the video

people are dropping because why they

they came what they came for and they’re

gone either they’re clicking on one of

those videos or they’re clicking

elsewhere on youtube i get it for the

average view duration the average

percentage viewed it’s not necessarily a

good thing but

that i’m still a little mixed on this

i’ve been experimenting with it the

jury’s still out on whether you should

do an end screen or not if you haven’t

noticed i’ve been testing them on a few

of my videos

to see how effective they are but so i

might do another video on end screens or

come back to this in the future let me

know if that’s something that’ll be

helpful to you all right now let’s get

to the last one the continuous segments

this is the golden part of the key

moments of audience retention if i show

you this one this is from channel

sunshine cute hairstyles if we open it

up we’ve got a pretty high actually a

very slow decline that’s about as good

as you could expect there and a pretty

high average view duration 62 percent

now we only have a small data data set

here of 72 views but it’s pretty decent

let’s look at the video

[Music]

it’s a hairstyle first of all wow great

colors that thumbnail is very

eye-popping

so we’re showing it

and we’re showing how to do it i don’t

want to play too much of this song for

fear that

it’s copyright i don’t know

so i’m going to mute that

but we’re playing the video

and look that’s the final product and

you’re gonna be following along while

you are making it

that is why we have such a high

continuous segment here why is that

happening because people are coming with

the intent to learn this and there’s a

good chance that they are going to be

watching it and doing it while they’re

watching it so they might be playing you

know they might go here okay that’s how

they do it pause

do it and then play

pause and by the way that doesn’t affect

if people are playing and pausing and

playing and pausing but they’re

continuously watching the video then

that counts for all that we’re talking

about here continuous segments and

average percentage feud and all the

other things playing and pausing is not

bad okay next one this is from healthy

family doc uh their note was i have no

idea why this video brought so many

subscribers let’s look at the key

moments here

all right we’ve got a pretty average

drop off for the intro and then we’ve

got a lot of good continuous segments

going on it’s a seven minute video 45

view that’s pretty good

good continuous segment right here and a

very gradual decline that is always a

good sign to me a gradual decline here

because like i said in ideal world it

would be going flat but the reality is

people are going to be leaving people

have to go somewhere else people have to

leave your video for whatever reason

even if they’re a dedicated viewer it’s

gonna happen but the more gradual the

decline the better so continuous segment

here from 258 to

it’s about right in the center of the

video let’s look at the video we’ve

already started looking around at the

dash diet the mediterranean diet okay

this video is about healthy diets right

and if we go right here

this is about where did that section

start

about 258 it said

so something about right here

as part of a heart-healthy diet you can

also just aim for a few servings of

walnuts or hemp seeds okay okay so

here’s what i think is happening here

the the video is very on point people

are very interested in the content of it

and they want to hear the every key tip

and all the accompanying tips with the

major tips in this video which is

contributing to the continuous segment

and the pretty gradual decline a lot of

people like this video because they like

the tips and they like um all the the

delivery of it they like how it is um so

casual you’re sitting in front of your

couch and you’re delivering this right

so that’s good if you have analytics

that are looking like a continuous

segment you can look at it and say what

is it about this segment that people are

liking why are they staying for a long

time what that means is they are liking

where they are right now and there are

no strong reasons to leave the video or

skip ahead in the video so you see they

did get it this was a valuable video for

them and in fact if you guys do enjoy

videos about analytics and you want to

finally understand analytics i have a

few epic videos for you i’m going to put

them right here right here that you

should definitely watch next if you have

not already if you have then go watch

them again

and nate out