- YouTube's just released a new tool
that may have destroyed views and watch time
for all of our channels.
- And not only that, it could impact
the revenue you make ("cha-ching" effect plays)
on your channel. (buzzer buzzes)
- So look at this.
This new tool, the way it works
is that if you put your cursor on the timeline,
you see this waveform that wasn't there before.
- [Rob] At one point in the timeline,
it will say the "most replayed" section.
So presumably this is where viewers on a video
are tapping on a certain point in the timeline
to watch it more than anything else.
- Let us know though,
is this something that you would find useful?
Let us know in the comments.
- Yeah, because we're finding this fascinating,
and we're encountering it for the first time.
And as you might imagine,
we've got some thoughts and opinions.
- Let's talk about why
this new feature exists in the first place,
and it comes down to satisfaction, all right?
YouTube's number one goal
for anybody who's watching YouTube
is to cancel their Disney+ (buzzer buzzes)
and their Netflix, (buzzer buzzes)
and watch YouTube literally forever.
- But I really wanted to watch Obi-Wan Kenobi.
- You were the chosen one!
- I hate you!
- Is this essentially open season
on everybody's audience retention?
Let's take a look at that.
In the YouTube Studio, as you've no doubt seen,
you'll have this audience retention graph,
which slowly goes down like a hockey stick
as the audience drops off,
but it does show the spikes.
But how does this translate
into the video that a viewer sees?
This is the same video, but from the viewer's perspective,
and as you can see, it does show the spikes,
but it doesn't necessarily show the drop-off.
And just to demonstrate how powerful this is
for showing viewers and creators
the moments of viewer spikes,
let's take a look at this little segment
from a video I made a little while ago.
Secondly, and more importantly,
we're gonna do a quick thumbnail test.
Two thumbnails are gonna appear on screen,
and all you need to tell me
is which one you would click on, and why.
Ready?
Go!
Yeah, I didn't give you long there, did I?
But it was still more than enough time
to pick a thumbnail, right?
So it's pretty obvious
why people were jumping back to this part of the video.
They wanted to see these thumbnails in a little more detail.
And that's a clear demonstration
of how you can use viewer engagement tactics
to increase your audience retention.
- Now, a big concern about this, as we mentioned,
is that people are afraid
this is going to completely tank their watch time.
Because as you just saw, there's sections of videos
that people are basically watching more than others.
But that's where Pierce comes in.
- We heard concerns from creators
that this feature would decrease watch time
or negatively impact some content types.
The good news is that, in our experiment,
we found there's no statistically significant impact
to watch time
from showing these graphs.
- So that was Pierce.
He is a product manager over on YouTube,
and he specifically works on satisfaction on the platform.
And when he says that this will not have a negative impact
on watch time, I'm inclined to believe him, because-
("flashback" harp music)
Now, in the past we've seen similar concerns
about abbreviated sub counts
and the removal of public dislikes.
But months, years after those events have happened,
is anybody still fiercely complaining about them,
saying that this is having a huge impact on their channel?
I'm not really seeing that.
But what I will say
is that when it comes to these
audience satisfaction waveforms,
the Creator Insider video doesn't have it.
#Conspiracy ? ("punch" effect plays)
("dun dun dunnn" effect plays)
- All kidding aside, if you really want a conspiracy,
maybe we should take a look at the parts of the videos
that aren't getting any views.
We looked at the spikes,
now let's look at the parts that are a little more flat.
- [Rob] We have a video that has a product placement in it.
Let's watch the beginning of this video.
We have the usual intro.
This is about World War II, animated recreations of battles.
What comes next?
- [Narrator] This video is sponsored by Morning Brew.
- A sponsored segment.
Now, let's take a look
at how that impacts the viewer satisfaction.
We have this flatline, and if I track my mouse along here,
you can see that the advert is still going on.
And then look what happens when we get to 1:09.
The most replayed section.
They just wanna get to the content.
That's where they're gonna click,
and they get into the video. - It's 8 PM in the evening-
- How useful is that for advertisers?
- I would say that is rather concerning to see.
And honestly, I can kind of relate to the graph we just saw,
because I myself skip a lot of product placements
from creators who I otherwise really like,
and I want them to get paid for what they do.
- Of course, what this doesn't show
is the impact of this advert in terms of conversions.
Yes, not many people may be watching this part of the video.
Those who are, may still be buying the products.
- Ultimately, advertisers are gonna need to get creative,
I think, one way or another.
I've talked to a lot of influencers
who have worked with brands,
and they sometimes get a whole script
that they're supposed to read off.
And I think now,
brands are gonna need to allow creators to create,
to take their brand image
and kind of play with it a little bit
in a way that works for their audience.
- Dan, are we being too negative here?
Is this just a dollop of scaremongering?
What are the advantages of this tool?
- Well, I do think there is a little bit of good news.
I think, for one,
this could help a new viewer to your channel
stick around a little bit longer,
where they might not have before.
- Ultimately, this is more data for everybody.
Viewers, creators, advertisers.
And those who learn how to understand it the most
can leverage it the best.
As regards to earning money,
there has been a lot of positive news stories recently
from YouTube,
and you can learn about them
and how to earn more money for your channel
over here.