We timed it to the second on hidden test videos, and one move skipped the wait. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
We timed it to the second on hidden test videos, and one move skipped the wait.
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ENGAGED VIEWS
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What Turns A View Into An Engaged View
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YouTube defines an engaged view as "clicking to watch or watching past the initial seconds." It has never said how many seconds. Since August, a view counts from the very first frame, even in a homepage preview, so that number is what separates your views from your engaged views.
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So we tested it. We uploaded test videos to a channel nobody watches, then watched each one for different lengths of time and checked YouTube Studio after every try.
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About 10 Seconds Of Preview, Or One Click
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What counted as engaged in our test, on long-form videos of 2, 5 and 10 minutes.
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Homepage or search preview
Clicked to watch
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Engaged in under a second |
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5s |
7-9s |
10s |
12s |
15s |
20s |
30s |
● Engaged view ○ View only ◐ On the line
Ten seconds counted on the 2-minute video but not the 5-minute one; beyond that, length didn't move the cutoff, and Shorts weren't tested.
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Vote for the number you check first, and you'll see what's typical for it.
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VIDIQ CREATOR POLL
What Do You Check First After An Upload?
Mulai, pick one and we will show you what everyone else said.
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Where About Half Of Views Stop
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On average across 100 channels we checked, about 54% of views are engaged, so close to half end at the preview.
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That preview is your video's opening seconds, so they're worth an extra pass on your next upload.
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Strangest of all, a 5-second video played start to finish in search still didn't count as engaged.
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Talk soon,
Rob from vidIQ
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vidIQ Inc.
548 Market St #70172
San Francisco CA 94104, US
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