An update to the YouTube Analytics interface now allows users to see what other channels and entertainment streams their userbase watches and follows on the platform.
This new set of data provides another metric through which channels and content creators can judge their audiences, their engagement with videos on YouTube, and how that ultimately affects the creators' own outlets. With the hyper competitive space the free video-streaming service currently is, this new parameter might give creators that edge they need to build a community online.
Going to the analytics section of YouTube Studio's desktop version offers a new item, labelled "other channels your audience watches". Clicking on it leads to a new menu, listing data gathered over the past 28 days and highlighting channels that your audience has interacted with the most over the past few days. It foregoes the highlighting of individual videos receiving a higher viewership, choosing to focus on their originators in an attempt to provide a more cohesive picture.
Let's talk good news first. Simply put, it allows users to judge whether or not the content they create and churn out is really resonating with the community interacting with it. Similar interests being reflected in the other channels users watch may strongly indicate that the creator in question has a solid avenue of creativity they can employ. It also leaves a lot of room for growth, as creators can expand and explore other avenues that the general community seem to be interacting with outside of their own content.
Now, for the bad news. First of all, metrics for what channels users interact with may not prove to be accurate. Since users have the freedom to, and often do, click on trending videos and explore those channels a bit more, if only for short periods of time, results on the 28 days duration may paint a skewed portrait. They still have merit, but users will have to wait for multiple reports until they can properly gauge audience interests.
The second drawback comes in the form of creator content itself. Specifically, choosing to expand outwards. Let's face it, even if one's userbase is interested in avenues outside of the niche a creator has employed in their videos, those very avenues dictating the course of future content is a terrible idea. Ultimately, this can potentially lead to a very scattered channel that focuses on nothing, and only adds to the pressure that creators feel when creating content.
Ultimately, there are many ways that creators can have their cake and eat it too. If, for example, one has an art channel, and their audience focuses on video gaming content, future artwork could try and cater to those users by incorporating gaming characters and settings into the art. However, this could result in a loss of individuality that may serve to both burden and hurt creators.
Read next: YouTube’s Picture In Picture Mode Back In Your iOS And Third Party Browsers
This new set of data provides another metric through which channels and content creators can judge their audiences, their engagement with videos on YouTube, and how that ultimately affects the creators' own outlets. With the hyper competitive space the free video-streaming service currently is, this new parameter might give creators that edge they need to build a community online.
Going to the analytics section of YouTube Studio's desktop version offers a new item, labelled "other channels your audience watches". Clicking on it leads to a new menu, listing data gathered over the past 28 days and highlighting channels that your audience has interacted with the most over the past few days. It foregoes the highlighting of individual videos receiving a higher viewership, choosing to focus on their originators in an attempt to provide a more cohesive picture.
Let's talk good news first. Simply put, it allows users to judge whether or not the content they create and churn out is really resonating with the community interacting with it. Similar interests being reflected in the other channels users watch may strongly indicate that the creator in question has a solid avenue of creativity they can employ. It also leaves a lot of room for growth, as creators can expand and explore other avenues that the general community seem to be interacting with outside of their own content.
Now, for the bad news. First of all, metrics for what channels users interact with may not prove to be accurate. Since users have the freedom to, and often do, click on trending videos and explore those channels a bit more, if only for short periods of time, results on the 28 days duration may paint a skewed portrait. They still have merit, but users will have to wait for multiple reports until they can properly gauge audience interests.
The second drawback comes in the form of creator content itself. Specifically, choosing to expand outwards. Let's face it, even if one's userbase is interested in avenues outside of the niche a creator has employed in their videos, those very avenues dictating the course of future content is a terrible idea. Ultimately, this can potentially lead to a very scattered channel that focuses on nothing, and only adds to the pressure that creators feel when creating content.
Ultimately, there are many ways that creators can have their cake and eat it too. If, for example, one has an art channel, and their audience focuses on video gaming content, future artwork could try and cater to those users by incorporating gaming characters and settings into the art. However, this could result in a loss of individuality that may serve to both burden and hurt creators.
Read next: YouTube’s Picture In Picture Mode Back In Your iOS And Third Party Browsers
