What Is “Watch-Time” And Why Does It Matter?
An engagement metric that we are paying attention to is time spent watching. In other words, how many of your viewers are watching your video beyond the first five seconds?
Simply getting information on how many viewers you are garnering is helpful, but doesn’t give you the full picture. Did you know, for instance, that if someone clicks onto your video just long enough for that little rotational download circle to appear, it can register as a ‘view?’ Yeah, it shouldn’t be counted in your viewership numbers, but often is.
So – more important than finding out how many people clicked onto your video is how long they stayed with it. This is time spent watching, and you should be measuring it. Of course, number of views across social video still matter, but the way they are being measured is now getting counted.
The why part of this is obvious. Our marketing strategists are focused on the lifecycle of video content because it tells quite a bit about how that video is being utilized. If you look at total watch time as well as average watch per unique visit, you can determine if your video holds a viewer’s interest beyond that first five or ten seconds. You can also determine how long is too long. It could be your video suffers from lack of editing. Maybe you are taking too long to get to the point.
Something else to consider when it comes to that video you are using in multiple places; When should it be longer? (more likely on your website), and when can it be short and edgy to pull in interest? (Instagram comes to mind).
Let’s talk how to measure the success of the video component of your marketing. Yes, video is important. Yes, it’s powerful to use in lots of places. Also yes – it’s easy to get too long, too short on detail, or just a little off the mark. Knowing your watch time metrics is a great way to verify how well your video works for you.
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