A Less Than 3 Minute Viewer Retention Masterclass 👨‍🎓

Let's talk about getting your viewers to watch your ENTIRE video.

Author

Phillip DeRenzo
November 16, 2022

It's Hump Day! And we got a good one for you if you're looking to get people to actually watch your videos from start to finish. Yeah, we're talking viewer retention!

Without further ado, let's get into the good stuff! 👇

A Less Than 3 Minute Viewer Retention Masterclass 👨‍🎓

Let's talk about getting your viewers to watch your ENTIRE video.

What is viewer retention? Simply put, viewer retention is how long viewers watch your video when they click it. On YouTube, this is measured by Average View Duration and Audience Retention.

Average View Duration = the amount of time that viewers watch your video (includes rewatching and watching multiple videos consecutively)

Audience Retention = the average percentage of a particular video that viewers watch

In your YouTube analytics, under the Engagement tab, Average View Duration and Audience Retention look like this... 👇

Why is viewer retention important? The higher the viewer retention, the more the YouTube algorithm will push your video to new viewers.

What metric is more important? Both are important. Average View Duration is important because YouTube wants to keep users on the platform longer. If a viewer hops from video to video on your channel, then your Average View Duration will go up and the algorithm will reward you.

BUT having higher Audience Retention on a video seems to be more important to see immediate results. You want to shoot for above 50% Audience Retention and you'll be rewarded by the YouTube algorithm.

Let's talk about increasing viewer retention. There are 5 tricks that top YouTubers use to increase the amount of time their audience spends watching their videos... ⤵️

1. Use great storytelling. Why do you watch a movie in the theaters from start to finish? Other than the fact that you paid $11 for a tick and $13 for popcorn. Because you want to know how the story ends! Make your viewers feel like this. Introduce the story in the beginning of your video and maybe even forecast some challenges along the way. This will get your viewers watching for longer.

2. Make the first 30 seconds action packed. In the first 30 seconds of Ryan Trahan's most recent video, he uses 14 cuts with 8 including text and other graphics and 6 showing different locations. When the 30 seconds is over, we know exactly what we're going to see in the video and we're hooked because so much was going on and we need to see it unravel.

3. Avoid static shots. Watching a video where someone just sits and talks in front of a still camera is like sitting in your 6th grade classroom listening to Mrs. Smith talk about the periodic table. Don't be like Mrs. Smith. Use zooms in and out, quick cuts, and film in different locations.

4. Add fast moving text. You see big YouTubers like Niklas Christl do this in every video. When people see text, they read it. Maybe even add a distinguishable noise when text appears. Be creative with it.

5. Be concise. Stick to the point of the video. If you are creating a video about a new skincare routine, there's no need to talk about the pizza you ate last night. When editing, cut out any space between sentences, any filler sentences that are unnecessary, and really anything that doesn't give the viewer a reason to keep watching.

Follow those 5 rules and you will see IMMEDIATE results. 👀

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