David Bridges
YouTube’s previewed some new analytics options coming to Creator Studio, which will provide more data on what your audience is interested in, based on their search and engagement activity, and how they’re interacting with different topics across the app.
The new elements will be part of YouTube’s ‘Search Insights’, which it first previewed late last year. YouTube released the first phase of Search Insights back in April, which provides more data on what people are searching for in the app, both in relation to your channel and content more broadly.
That can be helpful context for your planning, and now, YouTube’s adding even more depth to its Search Insights data, in order to help creators identify even more key trends and topics to guide their strategy.
The first new element is ‘Watch Interest’.
As explained by YouTube:
“Currently, Search Insights on desktop only shows what viewers are searching for, but now, we’re adding ‘Watch Activity’ for a topic. Creators can now review top, rising or recent videos in a topic so you can get a sense for what’s new.”
So now you’ll be able to get a better sense of actual engagement trends within YouTube clips based not only on explicit searches, but also on what people are watching, and how they move from video to video based on recommendations.
That could fill a big hole in your content research, because while explicit search is a key discovery process in the app, many people do just tap from clip to clip, without entering a specific search term. Knowing what’s grabbing, and keeping attention in this context could add valuable depth to your strategic approach.
YouTube’s also adding new insight into your audience’s watch activity on a given topic.
The data will show you related elements of interest on a given topic, which could help to guide your strategic planning around what to create next to maximize appeal with your audience.
Finally, YouTube’s developing new personalized insights based on your audience’s unique interests or your saves.
Saves can be a strong indicator of interest, and YouTube’s looking to provide even more engagement data to help in your planning, while it’ll also display interests in adjacent niches to help shine a light on more potential opportunities.
There are some interesting data points here, which could help to guide your strategy, and ensure that you’re tapping into the key trends that your audience, and others across YouTube, are looking for information on in your niche.
That could have a range of valuable applications, and the additional search data will help you formulate a more effective strategy that aligns with actual trends and interests, as opposed to relying too heavily on promotion and/or struggling to come up with relevant angles.
YouTube says that it’s experimenting with these new elements now, with the hopes of bringing them to all creators in the near future.
Maya Kensington
