Today we’re going to talk about how to increase watch hours on your YouTube channel. To do this we will discuss several issues: key secrets which will help you to increase your YouTube watch hours, what is evergreen content and how we can help you.

here are the reasons why you need a longer viewing time

1. 1. First of all, it’s important for YouTube monetization.

Three main conditions must be met in order to connect monetization:

1. 1. • Channel must comply with YouTube rules. The list of rules is shown to users when registering on the platform, you can also always find them in the menu, section ‘Rules and Security’. It is important that the author has no strikes or warnings;
      • In the last 12 months, the channel must have at least 4000 watch hours on YouTube. There is no need to wait for 12 months, the main thing is to have the required number of hours;
      • The YouTube channel must have at least 1,000 subscribers.

1. 1. YouTube’s algorithms are also affected by viewing time.

When you are watched a lot the more likely you are to be recommended to accounts related in theme to your YouTube videos. The likes, comments, and followers are important for getting to the top of YouTube, but so is watch hours. YouTube representatives and personnel regularly cite watchtime as an ‘important metric to promote YouTube video’. Let’s uncover the key secret to this topic – it’s INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT to optimize the first 15 seconds of your video.

Most viewers leave in the first 15 secs of viewing. Why does this happen? Most often it happens because the title of the video or the preview picture does not match its content. The YouTube thumbnail preview and the title of the video need to be in harmony with the very beginning of the video. This is done so that when a person enters the video, he understands that he is in the right place.

For example, the video is called ‘The Most Beautiful Places in Paris’. The viewer opens it and immediately understands that the video is really about the city. It’s different when he opens the video and there’s an introduction by the author, who greets the viewer for 30 secs and then says something about a distracted topic for another 40 secs. You can’t do that, because the first 15 seconds is a very сrucial time that you have to get your viewer interested in. In the beginning, you need to show what will happen in the video. In this case, the viewer immediately understands from the first seconds what will happen next. If you have an entertainment channel, then in the first 15 secs at the beginning of the video, you can make a mini-trailer, an editing of the most interesting moments.

When watching YouTube videos for entertainment, people are looking for something interesting. It is necessary to evoke in the viewer a feeling of ‘WOW, I have to know what happens next’. So you definitely need to make it intriguing, show the most interesting and coolest moments from it.

1. 1. DON’T PROLONG THE BEGINNING!

The next mistake that many people make (especially those who are already introducing intrigue into the beginning of their videos) is to delay the process. In fact, the delay shall not exceed 15 seconds. Very often people skip too long of a beginning or just turn off the video. So remember: at the beginning you have to tell about your video, make a fifteen-second intrigue, nothing else.