Hi, I'm Rachel and I'm an Analytics Product Specialist.
Knowing what videos to create can be a really tough decision as a creator.
Do you try and please your existing audience
or do you try and reach out to new viewers?
Or, can you do both in the same video?
Today, I'm going to walk you through two metrics in YouTube Analytics
that can help you better understand your audience.
Returning and New viewers.
In this video, we'll cover what these audience metrics are
how to understand them
and how to interpret the trends on your channel
and ways you can act on this information when it comes to making videos.
So, let's dive in.
If you visit the Audience tab of YouTube Analytics on desktop
you'll see a new section called Returning viewers.
Here you'll see two new metrics: Returning and New viewers.
Returning viewers are viewers who've already watched your channel previously
and then returned to watch more in a selected time period
whereas New viewers are viewers who've watched your channel for the first time
in the selected time period.
New viewers also includes viewers watching from private browsers
anyone who deleted their watch history
or people who haven't watched your channel in over a year.
These two metrics should give you a good idea of how your videos are attracting new viewers
and keeping existing ones
which can tell you a lot.
You can also try zooming out and analyzing longer date ranges.
What do you see for your channel?
Do you see any trends or shifts in your audience over time?
Do you have more New viewers or more Returning viewers?
Or, are they about the same?
Now you know what these metrics are and where to find them
let's talk about how you can understand trends on your channel.
It's normal for different channels to have different audiences.
Some channels naturally have more loyal viewers than others.
I'm going to show you a few different examples
and let these trends tell you about your audience.
First, what does it mean if you have more Returning viewers than New viewers?
If your chart looks like this
with Returning viewers on top and New viewers on the bottom
it means you have a pretty loyal audience
and viewers are likely returning fairly consistently
to watch more of your channel.
We often see trends like this on channels that release really consistent content.
Maybe they have the same hosts appear in the videos
or they upload videos that are in a similar format or about similar topics.
These channels are also likely to have more stable viewership from video to video
because the same viewers or similar viewers are watching them.
It also means it may be harder to grow if you aren't attracting as many New viewers.
If you notice you aren't attracting many New viewers
you could consider a few different strategies.
You could consider experimenting with new topics or formats.
Thinking about "adjacent audiences" you could appeal to
for example, say I have a gardening channel
I could consider making videos about houseplants or beekeeping as well.
Also, we recommend looking at your titles and thumbnails from the eyes of a New viewer.
Would they click to watch?
For example, if you release a vlog titled "It's my mom's birthday!"
that may be really appealing to your fans
but viewers who are unfamiliar with you and your channel
may be less likely to click to watch.
You can also use the "Other videos your audience watch" card in Analytics
to look for inspiration on what new topics or formats may appeal to your audience.
Next, what does it mean if you're getting most of your views from New viewers?
If your chart looks like this
with New viewers on top and Returning on the bottom
it generally indicates you have a more casual audience
and viewers are coming in and out of your channel.
It also means they don't necessarily return to watch more.
You may see this trend if you're producing lots of different types of content
which often attracts lots of different types of viewers
who have different interests.
For example, educational and how-to channels often have this trend
as many of their viewers will just watch the videos that answer the specific question
that they're trying to learn about.
These channels are also more likely to have different view counts from video to video
because different people are watching them.
In some cases, it can make it more difficult to plan ahead
or create a reliable base of viewers around your channel.
If you notice that many viewers aren't returning
here are some strategies that some creators use
to help encourage viewers to return to watch more.
First, consider creating more consistent content.
It could be about similar topics or in a similar format
or having the same host appear in each video.
Or, you could think about creating a series
and what videos and topics brought viewers to watch your channel in the first place.
Think about what you could make to bring these viewers back to watch more.
If you notice a spike in New viewers
you could consider making a popular video into a recurring series
or checking out the icons at the bottom of the chart
to see what videos may have driven up the spike
and helped new viewers discover your channel.
Think about what the topic of your video was
and how people found it.
And keep in mind that
spikes don't always occur on the same day as upload.
Lots of videos take off weeks and months after they're published.
It may be coming from an old video.
Think about what's bringing people to your channel
and what videos you could make next that would really entice these viewers to return.
You could also cross-reference
what traffic sources are bringing viewers to your channel
under the Reach tab of Analytics.
And finally, what if you have a mix of both New and Returning viewers?
If the lines are close together, this generally means that
some of your viewers are returning to watch more
while other viewers may not be.
They may be watching one or a few of your videos but not returning.
If you have an equal mix of New and Returning viewers
it can be a good sign that your channel is doing well in both attracting new viewers
and keeping their interest after they've watched.
Take a moment to think about
some of the things you may be doing that could be helping this.
For Returning viewers, what are you making that's doing so well?
Maybe it's your active replies to comments
or the ways you structure your videos and series
that makes people keep coming back.
For New viewers, it could be a collab you did or a trending topic you took advantage of.
Maybe it's the way you make engaging titles and thumbnails.
What other things could you do to keep drawing in New viewers
and keeping them?
To recap, in order to build an audience you really have to do two things.
Attract New viewers and retain the ones you have.
These metrics are there to help you see how well you're doing with each group
and to help you think about what actions you can take.
I really hope this video was helpful for you.
Be sure to go and check out your audience trends in Analytics.
Let us know in the comments if this was useful for you
or if you have feedback or feature requests
about how we can make YouTube Analytics even more useful for all creators.
Thanks for watching.