What kinds of metrics will give you a quick feel for how interesting and engaging your content is to viewers?

A common mistake is to accept the number of views for your online videos as a clear indication of success. It’s quite possible for visitors to click on your video by mistake, have it automatically open when shared on Facebook, or check it out only to close it again within seconds.  These views can inflate your statistics without proving out the actual value of your video.

Similarly, the number of shares may not tell you what you’d like to know. There are any number of reasons that viewers may share your video (and not all are positive).

For a more reliable indicator of engagement and value, think about focusing on a metric like watch time.  If you launch your videos on your YouTube channel, you can easily run a watch time report on your content assets.  YouTube offers fairly straightforward instructions on running a report online.

Think about how many viewers are watching your videos for 30 seconds or more. Better still, how many are watching the videos through to the end?  Where in your video is the biggest dropoff occurring?  By paying attention to your analytics with regular reporting and assessment, you may be able to identify trends that will help you to improve on your scripting and video development, helping you to capture attention quickly and keep it through to the end.