YouTube Analytics for Artists is a tool in YouTube Studio available to Official Artist Channels to help you get a comprehensive view of your performance and audiences on YouTube, YouTube Music, and Shorts. Use it to make better decisions for your release/artists with unique insights that you can’t get elsewhere:
- What’s working well?
- How’s your music and different content formats reaching different audiences?
- Who is your audience?
- How’d your audience engage with your channel?
- Which videos did they watch and when?
IMPORTANT: If your artist channel is not an Official Artist Channel (OAC) please see this article on how to upgrade. YouTube - OAC Request (Official Artist Channel)
Overview Tab
Use the Overview tab to understand:
- Overall channel performance (total views, watch time, unique viewers, top videos, etc).
- How is your latest release doing?
- The estimated views for your videos and top songs from the last 48 hours or 60 minutes.
- Real-time subscribers count.
Content Tab
Previously known as the Reach & Engagement tab, use the Content tab to understand:
- What content format on your channel (Shorts, VODs, Live, Posts, Songs) is working well for your audience?
- Robust performance insights (i.e. views, key moments for audience retention, average view duration, etc) of each content format.
- An aggregated performance of your songs across multiple content formats, including Shorts, Official Music Videos, Art Tracks, Lyric Videos, and other UGC videos where all, or most, of your songs are used (mobile only).
- What are your top videos and Community Posts?
- Your channel impressions and how they led to watch time?
- How viewers find your content (VODs, Shorts, Live)?
Audience Tab
Use the Audience tab to understand:
- Who’s watching your videos and insights on their demographics?
- How has your audience changed over time?
- Did you attract new viewers to your channel?
- When is the best time to engage with your audience (i.e. release the official music video)?
- What other videos are your audience watching?
Advanced Mode Button
Clicking the ADVANCED MODE button on top (or any SEE MORE button beneath most reports) will give you options to get more in-depth information of your performance.
Action Plan - Ongoing
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Visit the Overview tab & Advanced Mode to understand how your channel is performing at least once a week.
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Take a look at the Content tab to find out what other fan videos/Shorts that featured your music (engage with them via comments and share their videos on your Community Tab/Social platforms).
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Dive into the Content tab to explore what content format is working well and what traffic sources bring viewers to your channel and optimise your content based on the data (i.e. use popular Search queries as a guide for new content planning) and incorporate these keywords in marketing campaigns).
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Check out the Audience tab to identify your audience demographic. Ask questions like... am I attracting new audience, and do I need to adjust my content to be more appealing to my current audience?
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Use Advanced Mode to understand how playlists are performing. Ask questions like... which playlist performs best, and do I need to create similar playlists or curate different playlists?
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Find out what other videos your audience is watching from the Audience tab for content brainstorming & collaboration opportunities!
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Identify key cultural trends/moments using Google Trends for content planning.
Action Plan - During the Release Cycle
- Check your realtime performance on the Overview tab and dive in with the Advanced Mode feature.
- Check the performance of your content including VODs, Livestream & Shorts using the Content tab & Advanced Mode. Pay attention to the “Song” chip for aggregated performance of your songs across multiple content formats, including Shorts, Official Music Videos, Art Tracks, Lyric Videos, and other UGC videos where all or most part of your songs are used.
- Use Shorts filter in the Advanced Mode to find the top Shorts with your new music, and engage with them via comments/likes/shares.
- Use Audience tab to find the suitable hours to engage with your fans. Upload official content, Shorts, Premieres when they are most active, and consider using this insight for your next release.
- Use Advanced Mode to understand how playlists are performing. Which playlist performs best, and do I need to create similar playlists or curate different playlists?
- Use Content tab to identify what traffic sources bring viewers to your new music, uuse these insights to optimise your marketing/promotional campaigns.
- Identify your demographic changes in Audience tab, and optimise your video metadata (i.e. use translated subtitles if necessary).