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The key YouTube Analytics metrics are impressions CTR, retention (average percentage viewed), traffic sources, audience and RPM. CTR tells you whether the thumbnail works, retention whether people keep watching, traffic sources where viewers come from, and RPM how much the channel actually earns per 1,000 views. All of it lives in YouTube Studio under "Analytics".
Where to find YouTube Analytics
- Go to studio.youtube.com → "Analytics" in the left menu. On a phone, use the YouTube Studio app.
- Tabs: Overview, Content, Audience, Research, plus Revenue for monetized channels.
- The default range is the last 28 days. "Advanced mode" lets you compare videos and periods.
- Open a specific video's analytics from the Content list to see how it performs in the first hours.
Since March 31, 2025, Shorts views count every start and replay, while Partner Program thresholds use a separate "engaged views" metric.
What is impressions CTR and what's a normal CTR?
An impression is when your thumbnail is shown to a viewer on YouTube: on Home, in suggestions, in search. Impressions on external sites and end screens aren't included. Impressions CTR is the share of impressions that turned into a view.
- According to YouTube Help, about half of all channels and videos have an impressions CTR between 2% and 10%.
- When a video reaches a broader, colder audience, CTR naturally drops — read it together with impression volume.
- Low CTR on few impressions means it's time to rework the thumbnail and title — see our guide to thumbnails and titles.
When a new upload has almost no impressions, there's nothing to analyze. You can add starter views on the YouTube views page — $0.95–1.30 per 1,000 with 10–30 seconds of retention, $1.10 with likes, no password. Keep in mind: these views don't count toward Partner Program watch hours and lower average percentage viewed in your reports, so use them carefully on monetized channels.
How to read audience retention
- Average view duration — how many minutes people watch on average.
- Average percentage viewed — how much of the video they get through.
- Retention graph — key moments: the intro (first 30 seconds), spikes (rewatched parts) and dips (where people leave).
A sharp drop in the first 30 seconds almost always means the opening doesn't deliver what the thumbnail promised. Techniques that help are collected in YouTube audience retention.
Traffic sources: where do viewers come from?
- Browse features — the video is recommended on Home.
- Suggested videos — shown next to other videos.
- YouTube search — the report lists the actual search terms.
- Shorts feed, channel pages, playlists, notifications.
- External and direct — websites, messengers, links.
Lots of search means your SEO works; growth in Browse and Suggested means the algorithm has started pushing the video. If only external traffic grows, the video isn't picking up organic reach.
Unique, new and regular viewers: what the audience tab shows
"Unique viewers" estimates how many people watched your channel in a period. Since 2025, your monthly audience is split into three groups:
- New — watching you for the first time (or not in over a year).
- Casual — watched at least once a month for 1–5 months in the past year.
- Regular — watched monthly for more than 6 months in the past year.
The same tab shows the share of subscribers among viewers, when your audience is online and what else they watch.
What is RPM and how is it different from CPM?
- CPM — what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube's share.
- RPM — your revenue per 1,000 views after YouTube's share, across all sources (ads, memberships, Premium, Super Chat) and all views, including unmonetized ones.
RPM is always lower than CPM, and it's the number that reflects real earnings. Figures by niche and country are in how much YouTube pays per 1,000 views. And if a well-retained video lacks social signals, you can add likes on the YouTube likes page — from $1 per 1,000 with a 30-day guarantee.
