The subscriber advantage

How building your subscribers can drive your success

Contents

Best practices

Your channel is a place where viewers can go and find something they want to watch now and later. You will want your viewers to subscribe to your channel so they’ll come back and watch the content you’re uploading.

  • Subscribers watch more

    Subscribers are your biggest fans and are critical to your success on YouTube! If you create original content, gaining subscribers can be  the best and fastest way to increase watch time and views.

    Subscribers spend more time watching videos on YouTube than your casual visitor or someone who watches embedded YouTube videos through other sites. They also tend to be responsible for many more views on a new video than non-subscribers, especially right after you upload that video. This is a critical moment for a video to increase its watch time.

    So how can you get more subscribers? You will want to set up your channel in a way that helps people subscribe and create content that keeps them coming back for more.

  • Watch time is golden

    In the past, the number of views on a video drove its discovery and rank. Videos getting the most clicks were rewarded, rather than those that held the longest viewer attention. Now, YouTube looks at watch time - the actual amount of time people spend watching your videos - rather than only the number of views, as a more accurate gauge of how a video performs. Views only show the number of times a video was accessed, but not how much of the video was watched.

    YouTube suggests videos in search and recommendations that are likely to increase how much overall time a viewer spends watching and uses watch time to improve the ranking of videos in search and recommendations. If people click on your videos and stick around to watch, your videos will appear more often in suggested and recommended videos and growth in new views could increase. If your videos drive more watch time or inspire your viewers to check out a related video (either yours or someone else’s) your channel gets an advantage!

  • Get that click

    Check out a few ways that you can entice viewers to watch your videos and subscribe.

    • Create a compelling channel trailer to encourage those unfamiliar with your channel to subscribe.
    • Update your branding to ensure your channel looks good across all devices and that you are sending a consistent message about your content to potential subscribers.
    • Tell a story with your thumbnails, title, and description so your viewers know what your video is about.
    • Include a call to action in your video encouraging viewers to subscribe (both using a verbal cue and visual cue). Take advantage of annotations.
    • Review your YouTube analytics views report to find out where your traffic is coming from, who your viewers are, and how long they’re watching.
    • Experiment. Try cross-promoting with other channels your subscribers are interested in.

    Remember that you still need good content. If you don’t have anything people want to watch, well, people won’t stay. And, longer watch time does not mean you need to make longer videos - if you have a four minute video idea, keep it four minutes long and make sure to follow best practices for making engaging content. By making videos that your viewers want more of, and by optimizing your channel to help viewers find and watch more of the content they like, you’ll likely see increased subscriptions, recommendations, and more!

Mastery checklist

  • Why is watch time important?
  • How are your videos currently discovered?
  • What are your subscribers watching?
  • What are three things you will try to increase your subscriber count?

Example from creators

Maximize Your Channel for Watch Time
This video is from the YouTube Creator Academy online course, Maximize Your Channel. It had over 80% watch time when the course was live. Why do you think viewers watched through this video?

Community activities

Put your new knowledge to work! Answer the activity questions below. Then share your answer with the community to get feedback from other creators.

1. Check out your YouTube analytics - where are your subscribers coming from? What does this tell you?
2. What is the typical audience retention rate on your videos? Are there any patterns that you see? What does this tell you?
3. What strategies will you implement to try to increase watch time and get subscribers?

Check your knowledge

Question
What is the relationship of subscribers to watch time?
Subscribers are the only type of viewers that contribute to watch time.

Longer videos always have longer watch time and thus more subscribers.

Shorter watch time is always an indicator of fewer subscribers.

Subscribers tend to drive more watch time.

Great! You are correct!
Subscribers often come back to YouTube to watch more.
Not quite right, try again.
Think about who will be on the lookout for new content from your channel.
How is YouTube helping to increase your watch time?
Modified the platform so that your branding will scale easily across devices.

Automatically inserting a subscribe link in every video you upload.

Placing every new video you post in the related videos section.

Modified the playlist feature so it is only available to subscribers.

Awesome!
Having a consistent viewing experience provides an environment where viewers are encouraged to return and return often.
Great thought, but try again!
You should consider how the viewer’s experience across devices impacts their desire to watch more videos.
In addition to making great content, how can you reliably increase watch time and views?
Increase the number of unique views on your video.

Increasing the number of subscribers on your channel.

Increase the number of annotations in the video.

Tell all of your friends to watch your new video.

Super!
There is a definite link between subscribers and watch time.
Not quite, try again.
Consider the relationship between subscribers and watch time.
Which of the following can help you increase subscribers on your channel?
Create a channel trailer advertising the content of your channel to potential subscribers.

Include a call to action in each video encouraging viewers to subscribe with a visual and verbal cue.

Update your branding so it conveys a consistent message about your content.

All of the above.

Correct!
All of these options can help you increase subscribers.
Not quite, try again!
There is another answer that is an even better choice. This is one way to increase subscribers, but read through the responses again to find the correct response.
Awesome job completing the questions! How can we make this page better?
 

Measure success

Who is watching your videos and where are they watching from?
Check your YouTube Analytics, views report section. Determine where your current views and subscribers are coming from. What demographic is most popular? What are your traffic sources? What regions watch your videos the most?

Try it now  

How much of your videos are viewers watching?
Check your audience retention graphs. Are your viewers watching your videos all the way through or dropping off too early?

Try it out  

In this collection

01:
Make it real
02:
Make your first video a success
03:
The subscriber advantage
 

What to do next

Make what you love
Make what you love
Stay inspired and sustain your passion
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