Friday, October 12, 2012

YouTube search, now optimized for time watched

We've started adjusting the ranking of videos in YouTube search to reward engaging videos that keep viewers watching.  This is a continuation of ongoing efforts to focus our video discovery features on watch time, and follows changes we made to Suggested Videos in March, and recent improvements to YouTube Analytics.

The experimental results of this change have proven positive -- less clicking, more watching. We expect the amount of time viewers spend watching videos from search and across the site to increase.  As with previous optimizations to our discovery features, this should benefit your channel if your videos drive more viewing time across YouTube.

Yesterday, we added new Time Watched reporting to YouTube Analytics, so now you have even more tools to evaluate the performance of your videos and channel.  So keep making great videos that your fans will love and share, and encourage them to discover more of what YouTube offers, and you’ll see your own fan base grow, too.
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90 comments:

  1. I hope this algorithm takes into account the use of annotations toward the last quarter of a video that actually contribute to a significant drop in retention...they are, after all, intended to drive people out of the current video and into another. If not, this would actually discourage the use of such click-through annotations.

    ReplyDelete

  2. "less clicking, more watching" huh? If that's the way you want to go then can you PLEASE oh PLEASEEEEE get rid of the useless gear icon for quality on videos and put it back to how it was before, when it showed specifically what quality the video is in. EVERY single video I click on I HAVE to click it to make sure it's in the highest quality.

    It's absolutely ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. You can use an extension for that if you're using the Chrome browser. Maybe also with the Firefox. But again maybe a native setting would be nice. I believe they've made this for mobile viewing.

      Delete

    2. shldnt have to use xtensions on something so DEFAULTIDLY DUMB

      Delete

  3. Will this automatically make longer videos outrank shorter videos? Are you controlling for that as a proportion of total time? Someone that can explain a concept in 1:30 minutes is not necessarily worse than a similar video 10 minutes long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Curiously enough, this seems legit.

      Delete

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  4. Bob, it takes into account total watch time on YouTube, not just watch time on the video itself. So an annotation that gets people to watch more YouTube will benefit that video.

    ReplyDelete

  5. I believe your studies might be a bit old considering March was a great month for vloggers. Since March there have been a lot of changes. Most of it geared towards more professional content. If the site now depends on longer videos then you're going to miss out on a lot of greatness on the traditional 1 to 3 minute range which happens to be about 80% of the site. Essentially, you're going to force people to unnecessarily draw out the point of their videos in order to capitalize on the changes. This will have an effect on the quality of videos being made and a lot more of the popular users may get frustrated. My advice would be to study the way things were back in 2009 when the site depended more on the rating and favoriting system. When YouTube took away the "top favorites", it took away a big part of it's soul. THAT is how the good wholesome organic content was essentially found back then. I know this for a fact because I was consulting for several major Hollywood agencies looking for quality content to feature. I've been on this site now for 7 years and even though I'm not on top anymore, I know how things work inside and out. I'm afraid that many of the people who are working there these days don't have the type of information that I have because they haven't been around long enough to study it. YouTube is relying on numbers to tell them how to advance rather than the knowledge of how those numbers came to be. I'm more than willing to help make a better YouTube but people like me need to be invited into the offices. I was the first to make any sort of profit through YouTube, I've created a truly organic hit viral video without being featured by YouTube, I was the first to use many of the features that this site had to offer (even creating a few of my own), I played a major role in building the community by bringing them closer together in person with "As One", I was the first to transition into traditional media in television AND feature films and I've worked with more brands than anyone else on this site. I can back up everything I say with experience and solid numbers. So why not spend more time listening to people like me? I've reached out many times in the past but I feel like my advice has been falling on deaf ears. Right now the formula you have set out is only fit to entertain the viewers you have now. Sure you might get some good returns from them but I assure you it will not promote growth. I'd rather see this site have lots of people watching shorter videos than a few people watching longer ones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I agree, Cory. You know your stuff and YouTube should invite you into their offices and talk with you on how to better the site. I know of many people who have given up trying to make something of themselves on YouTube because they find it difficult to get anywhere. I've been on YouTube since 2006 and the site has changed a lot, and most of it isn't for the best. Slowly, but surely YouTube are killing themselves.

      Delete

    2. Cory, this update is focused on videos that tend to cause users to spend more time on YouTube OVERALL, not just spending more time on a single video. If that means users end up watching a string of 3 minute videos for 2 hours, rather than a 1 hour video for ten minutes, than the 3 minute videos will be favored.

      http://youtubecreator.blogspot.com/2012/08/youtube-now-why-we-focus-on-watch-time.html

      Delete

    3. Well said Cory. I agree with you. After all, length should not be a major parameter to gauge quality. This could mean long boring videos like movies will tend to get better ranking than short powerful videos loaded with great information and value.

      Delete

    4. I couldn't agree more with Cory.

      Delete

  6. *off topic* but I need to be able to create a "playlists playlist".
    Let me explain : In the playlist "web series/dramas" I'd like to put all my web-series playlists. Like folders in a folder..

    Maybe it could be useful for others too :)

    And for this topic, the only thing I can see is that views and earnings are droping days after days for almost everybody (99% vs 1% ...).
    If I wasn't passionate about making videos and sharing with people to entertain them, i'd have quit yt since March...

    ReplyDelete

  7. Which would get higher ranking.. a 3 minute video that viewers watch to the end ... or a 60 minute video that viewers only watch for 6 minutes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I would like to ask the same because I upload videos of 50 min and I'm not sure if this will help me or help the ones that make short videos (5 min or less)

      Delete

  8. Maybe it could be useful for others too :)
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    It's absolutely ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete

  9. Have you seen the gaming of the vids yet? 15 second vid constitutes a full watcher ,regardless! When can I put one up with a link,make it #1 and what percentage links on that? Better odds than KENO in vegas.

    ReplyDelete

  10. It is too much to overlook at on every related responsive factors like YouTube's including Time factor that also depend upon the length of video instead of counting total clicks for any video, that will help search engine to more reward the video authors.

    ReplyDelete

  11. instead of doing stupid updates, how about actually SOLVING glitches like the subscribers issue since march?

    ReplyDelete

  12. Which video will get higher ranking in the YouTube, a 4 minutes video that viewers watch for 3 times or a 25 minutes video that viewers watch for lets say 18 minutes??

    ReplyDelete

  13. Cory, this update is focused on videos that tend to cause users to spend more time on YouTube OVERALL, not just spending more time on a single video.Which would get higher ranking.. a 3 minute video that viewers watch to the end ... or a 60 minute video that viewers only watch for 6 minutes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Thanks for the clarification. I misunderstood it at first.

      Delete

  14. This a little off the subject but I have a problem with monetization on my channel and have no support from Youtube. The ads show up and the green button says monetized but the earnings are saying zero. Which is very unusual for my videos. Even on videos with 300 views there is at least a penny. This particular video has 1,600 views and has made not one red cent I connected Adsense account, cleared cache, demonetized then monetized again, posted in forums,Googled it... and nothing. I have other videos that are monetized with no problem.

    Here is the error message I get:
    Data is not available for the selected report, content, and date range. If possible, try selecting a broader date range, different content, or come back in 1–2 days after the most recent data has been processed.
    (but it has obviously been way longer that 1-2 days)

    I get this message in "ad performance" under the same video: 
    Data for the Ad Performance Report is currently unavailable after August 13th while we move to a new data source over the next several weeks. We apologize for the down time.
    but its been 11 weeks!

    Has anyone found a possible solution? Youtube please respond to your people (without the auto response) many people have this problem but what is the solution?

    ReplyDelete

  15. Wow it's cool, i hope it will work well :D

    ReplyDelete
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  17. I hope this algorithm takes into account the use of annotations toward the last quarter of a video that actually contribute to a significant drop in retention...they are, after all, intended to drive people out of the current video and into another. If not, this would actually discourage the use of such click-through annotations.




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  19. Has anyone seen those 10 hour versions of trololol and "Oh my dayum"? People start these playing and leave them overnight.. Is this going to affect it?

    ReplyDelete

  20. They are not talking about the length of the video watched but rather what percentage of that video was watched before clicking out. A 4 min video that was watched 100% should be higher ranking than 20% of a video watched that is 15 mins long.

    I have a channel called seatgurus where I have 10 min videos to 25 min videos and I did notice a very dramatic jump in my total views - I wondered why but I realize that most of my videos are watched in excess of 70%.

    Just saying...it makes sense and I love the sharp minds at work here..cheers

    ReplyDelete

  21. Bout time :D my videos have decent viewer retention so maybe I'll get a #1 spot now!

    ReplyDelete

  22. This is very bad for full length movies or operas. I know from my personal experience that I don't watch them on the computer, because I don't like sitting uncomfortably for two hours beside the computer. Instead I download them, put on the USB and watch them on television.

    ReplyDelete

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  28. It sounds very spammable and dangerous this algorithm.

    It's great that the suggested video algorithm is in the lime light however, especially for my clients http://www.honed.co/#work but for Brands especially suggested videos is a hot topic for a completely different reason; Brands especially are very concerned with suggested videos that show up competitor videos on their uploaded video watch pages. It seems no matter how much you partner with YouTube the bottomline is you're never going to get a completely on-brand environment.

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  31. RETURN "SEARCH BY RATING" FILTER NOW!!!!!!!! I understand that videos with large amount of loyal subscribers give a misleading assessment as to how good a video is and a lot of vlogers/gamers end up in the search results (which is annoying) but if one is trying to find a worthwhile video now, it's just IMPOSSIBLE!!!! please return that option!!!

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  42. Although I do appreciate what Rohan Ghosh said, I believe this is just one of the many thing it will be changing in the next months.

    For sure the guys there cannot take into account only the watch time, as for longer content there are people that prefer to create a playlist or download to watch it later. Hence, I believe there should be an interpolation of the sharing factor too at a certain point.

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  65. But this might brings another problem such as unnecessary long videos. People who used to make their video concise, now might try to think of ways to make it longer. For the long run, this might not be a good trend. Google should definately have a second thoughts on the change made in how Youtube Search result ranks

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