What is a good YouTube click-through rate?
Impressions click-through rate (CTR) is how often people watched a video after its thumbnail was shown to them on YouTube. YouTube says half of all channels and videos have an impressions CTR between 2% and 10%. New channels, videos less than a week old and videos with fewer than 100 views can swing outside that range.
CTR usually drops as a video gets shown more widely, for example on the Home feed, where viewers scroll past many thumbnails. So compare a video's CTR with your own channel's average rather than with other channels, and look at CTR together with impressions and watch time.
Average view duration vs. average percentage viewed
Average view duration is how long a typical view lasts, in minutes and seconds. Average percentage viewed is that duration divided by the video's length. A 12-minute video watched for 5 minutes on average has 42% viewed. Long videos naturally have a lower percentage, so compare videos of similar length. Strong openings, tight pacing and delivering the title's promise early are what raise both.
How the connection works
- You sign in with Google and approve read-only access to your YouTube data and YouTube Analytics. YPP Ready can't upload, edit, comment or change anything.
- Thumbnail CTR comes from YouTube's Reporting API. The first time you connect, YouTube prepares the last 30 days of data, which can take up to 48 hours.
- You can disconnect at any time on this page or from your Google Account's security settings.
Sources: Impressions and click-through rate FAQ (YouTube Help) · YouTube Analytics metrics · YouTube Reporting API: reach reports.