How well a video holds its viewers over its length. YouTube shows it as a graph of the share of viewers still watching at each moment, and as an average percentage viewed.
Formula
Average percentage viewed = average view duration ÷ video length × 100
Example
Meera's 60-second video has an average view duration of 18 seconds, so the average percentage viewed is 18 ÷ 60 = 30%. The retention graph drops sharply at 8 seconds, where her logo intro ends.
How you'll hear it
“Retention falls off a cliff at the logo, so let's open on the outfit.”
What it helps you decide
Where to cut, what to show in the first seconds, and how long to make the next video. It points to the exact moment people leave.
Where people misread it
People compare average view duration across videos of different lengths, so longer videos look better. Others judge a video by views alone, which says nothing about whether anyone watched to the product or the offer.
The story
Meera posts two videos on her YouTube channel in the same week. Her nephew, who runs the channel, says the long one did better because its average view duration is higher.
| Video A: length | 60 seconds |
| Video A: views | 2,000 |
| Video A: average view duration | 18 seconds |
| Video A: average percentage viewed | 30% |
| Video A: watch time | 10 hours |
| Video B: length | 20 seconds |
| Video B: views | 3,000 |
| Video B: average view duration | 12 seconds |
| Video B: average percentage viewed | 60% |
| Video B: watch time | 10 hours |
|---|
Both videos earned the same 10 hours of watch time. But video A lost 70% of the average viewer's time before the end. Video B held people for 60% of its length.
The audience retention graph showed why. Video A opened with an 8-second logo animation, and the graph fell sharply right there. The product only appeared at 25 seconds.
Meera cut the logo intro, moved the outfit to the first two seconds, and kept the next video under 30 seconds.
All figures are fictional and illustrative.
Work out average percentage viewed and watch time
The example's numbers are filled in. Replace them with yours.
The average viewer leaves before the halfway mark. Open the retention graph and find the first steep drop.
Don't confuse it with
- Retention rate (customer): the share of customers who buy again, nothing to do with video.
- Hold rate: an ad metric for how many viewers stay past a set point.
Related terms
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Sources
- Understand your YouTube engagement, YouTube Help
- Measure key moments for audience retention, YouTube Help