Since Covid-19 forced everyone to stay indoors, social media and streaming platforms have seen a surge in content creators and consumers. If you’re looking for ways to get more YouTube views, this article might help you increase the watch time for your videos - a key factor to your growth on the streaming platform.
If you think you can simply get YouTube subscribers, then you ought to know that this might seem the easy way out, but it will not help retain those subscribers or aid in the organic growth of your channel.
YouTube watch time
YouTube has introduced several additional factors to feature content, like a religion video summary on the trending page, so likes and views alone can’t help increase your reach anymore. Watch time is an important factor used by YouTube algorithms to show how long you can retain the viewers before they switch to another video.
If you’re worried about how to achieve that, here’s a list of things you can follow to increase the watch time of your videos:
Get creative with playlists and thumbnails.
Before we go into the more complex steps, ensure you’ve covered all the basics and have an attractive channel icon, an informative “About Section” with links to all your works and pages, and updated contact information. Use the playlist feature so viewers can binge-watch your videos in one go and increase watch time!
Make sure to create eye-catching thumbnails and titles (but accurate) for your videos so people are intrigued about the content when they lay their eyes on them. Last, drop in a trailer or engage with your audience to create hype before releasing your videos.
Keep an eye on the analytics and use the right keywords
If you are serious about growing your YouTube community and increasing your watch time, start paying attention to YouTube analytics and track the performance of your videos. Add the right keywords and appropriate tags, which will help you properly categorize your content.
You can also use the audience retention metric in analytics, which gives an accessible overview of when the viewer drops off or loses interest in the video and switches to another one. It could be due to the monotonous intro, a portion that needs to be more informative and intriguing, or when you are promoting something. It will aid you in creating better content and shaping it in a better manner.
Make use of cards and end screens.
You can use cards to guide viewers to other videos related to the discussed topic, but it’s better to add them in the middle or toward the end as you don’t want to distract the viewer from your current video. The end screen is another tool you can use to lure your audience into clicking on the icons and watching another video, and the best part is you can provide links to more than one video in a single go!
While you can add reminders to like and subscribe to your channel, you can also provide links to related playlists and videos to increase your watch time; since the viewer did watch till the end, he or she will readily click on the available links to continue watching your content.
Zero in on the niche audience and be authentic
There are tons of creators out there who are competing for permanent viewers. It’s pretty standard to feel confused and create content that is not authentic. But you need to remember that whoever subscribes to your channel is there to watch what YOU offer, not what’s available on other people’s channels, so pick whatever you are good at and create content around it.
Once you provide people content in the field you’re an expert in, you won’t have to worry about watch time, as there’s always a separate community for almost every hobby, task, trend, and forte out there. Once you are comfortable doing this, you’ll see that the watch time will increase, thanks to those selective subscribers who are genuinely interested in your content.
Create short and enticing videos.
Last but not least, all these tricks will fail if you don’t focus on the type of videos you create. You can search for the trending topics in your field and create videos around that. If you’re addressing a complex or trending issue, beating around the bush might not be a good idea, as the audience might switch to another video.
You can also summarize what topics you will address with the timestamp so people know what to expect and don’t leave midway. Keep your videos short and sweet with not-so-long introductions and fun and enticing endings to ensure your viewers stay hooked to your videos, and you won’t have to worry about watch time!
Make sure to follow these steps and keep an eye on where the watch time drops so you know why people are moving away, and you’ll be good to go. So stop searching for ways to get YouTube subscribers to gain more views and focus on creating quality content that ensures higher watch time!
