Understanding the Data – YouTube Case Examples

Below are three case examples that will illustrate how to understand YouTube Analytics as a whole. For more information, read our other blogs, Navigating YouTube Analytics and YouTube Analytics- Step-by-Step Guide.

“How to Setup Site Search Tracking in Google Analytics” Tutorial Example

The first example of a top-performing video that we will dive into is a how-to tutorial video that was uploaded in 2013. The topic of this video is how to set up site search tracking in Google Analytics.  

The first thing to point out about this video is the view curve over the lifetime of the video. When the video was uploaded in 2013, it was slow to accumulate views. Over time the video started to build momentum in terms of the number of views it was receiving. So what caused this video to gain more traction long after it was uploaded? 

By looking at the Traffic Sources in the Reach Tab, we see that the top three sources are YouTube search (49.9%), External (34.3%), and Suggested videos (8.9%) 

Diving into the Advanced Reporting mode will provide a better visual understanding of how the top three traffic sources compare to each other. 

Why is this Video Indexing So High on YouTube?

One reason why YouTube search is indexing high in this report is the average view duration. By looking at the Audience Retention report within the Overview Tab. We see that this video overall has a 65.5% average view duration. Videos that tend to perform well and show up higher in the YouTube search results tend to have an average view duration between 60% – 70%. Because a majority of this video is being watched by viewers, YouTube is ranking this video higher in search results so that more users will view the video. YouTube’s overall goal is to keep viewers on their platform, so when a video has a high average view duration, it knows that viewers will spend more time watching that video.  

Overall, this video fills a need. It is a how-to video with an effective title and tags that are relevant to what people are searching for based on the topic of this video. So why is this important? It is an example of how a video can perform well for companies that are looking to gain more brand awareness or showcase a product. 

“Internet Marketing Agency for B2B Companies” Video Ad Example

The second example that we want to explore is a 30-second video ad that was produced by TopSpot in 2021. This ad is a skippable ad promoting TopSpot and its services. Viewers have the option to skip the ad after the first 5 seconds. 

Looking at the Audience Retention report, we see that the video ad has a 94.2% average view percentage. 

After 10 seconds, the viewership from this video dips down to 65%. After 20 seconds, that number drops again to 48%. 41% of viewers watched through the end of the video. What does this tell us? Overall, for content in this ad had engaging content for over 40% of viewers to continue watching the video ad through the end of the video. Additionally, the video was well targeted to the correct audience to have maintained a 94.2% average view duration. 

How to Improve Viewer Retention

Given the trend with this video, one thing that could be improved upon in this video ad would be to not have a gradual fade to black at the end of the video. Without fading to black at the end of the video ad, important information such as the website URL or phone number provided at the end of the video could have remained on screen for a longer duration given that over 40% of viewers continued watching through the end of the video. 

“Locating Your Attic Filter Size and Determining Your MERV Rating” Example

The third example that we will look at is a video from Air Filters Inc. This is a how-to video on locating the size of your attic filter. It was uploaded in 2013 and is a video that has continued to consistently perform well on YouTube.  

To understand why this video is performing well, it is first important to look at the Traffic Sources within the Reach Tab. After setting the time range to Lifetime, we’ll see that over 64.1% of the traffic for this video has come from external sources. 

The Advanced Reporting mode provides a better visual understanding of how the external traffic compares to the rest of the traffic for this video. 

Diving in a little deeper, we see that the external traffic is comprised of a handful of sources. 45.5% of the total 37,687 views for this video have come from Google search. 

So why is so much traffic coming from Google? Well if we go to Google and search “Locating your attic filter size”, we see that the first result in the search landscape is the video itself. 

By looking at the Audience Retention report, we see that the video overall has an average of 86.6% average view duration. Videos that have an average view duration between 60%-70%, tend to rank higher within YouTube’s search results and have a better chance of appearing in the Google search landscape.  

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