# Data Overview

YouTube Analytics provides detailed performance data across your channels and videos. The metrics and dimensions you can pull depend on your report type.

## Report types

| Report Type                                       | Data Granularity                                       | Typical Use Case                                      |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Channel detailed statistics                       | Channel-level daily or monthly                         | Dashboard tracking overall channel health             |
| Channel statistics by content and subscriber type | By content type (live/on-demand) and subscriber status | Understanding how different audience segments perform |
| Channel subscribers                               | Subscriber growth with demographics                    | Tracking audience growth and composition              |
| Video detailed statistics                         | Per-video daily or monthly                             | Analyzing individual video performance over time      |
| Video statistics by content and subscriber type   | Per-video by content type and subscriber status        | Comparing how videos perform across audience segments |
| Traffic sources                                   | By traffic source type (search, recommended, external) | Identifying where views come from                     |
| Custom                                            | Any metrics × any dimensions                           | Tailored analysis for specific business questions     |

## Available metrics

#### Engagement metrics

These measure how viewers interact with your content.

| Metric                  | Description                                   | Report Availability               |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Views                   | Total number of times your videos were viewed | All reports                       |
| Watch time (minutes)    | Total minutes watched across your content     | All reports                       |
| Average view duration   | Average minutes watched per view              | Video reports, custom             |
| Average view percentage | Average % of video watched per view           | Video reports, custom             |
| Likes                   | Number of likes received                      | Channel and video reports         |
| Dislikes                | Number of dislikes received                   | Channel and video reports         |
| Comments                | Number of comments on videos                  | Channel and video reports         |
| Shares                  | Number of times videos were shared            | Channel and video reports         |
| Annotation clicks       | Clicks on cards and annotations               | Channel and video reports, custom |

#### Subscriber metrics

These track subscriber activity and growth.

| Metric                         | Description                                        | Report Availability     |
| ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------- |
| Subscribers gained             | New subscribers in the period                      | Channel reports, custom |
| Subscribers lost               | Subscribers who unsubscribed                       | Channel reports, custom |
| Audience watch ratio           | Watch time per subscriber                          | Channel reports, custom |
| Relative retention performance | How your videos retain viewers vs. YouTube average | Channel reports, custom |

#### Card & annotation metrics

These measure interactive elements on videos.

| Metric                        | Description                                            | Report Availability |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------- |
| Card clicks                   | Clicks on cards (info, poll, video, playlist, channel) | Custom reports      |
| Card impressions              | Times cards were shown                                 | Custom reports      |
| Card click rate               | % of views that clicked a card                         | Custom reports      |
| Annotation clicks             | Total annotation interaction clicks                    | Custom reports      |
| Annotation impressions        | Times annotations were shown                           | Custom reports      |
| Annotation click-through rate | % of views that clicked annotations                    | Custom reports      |

#### Playlist metrics

These apply to playlist-specific performance.

| Metric                        | Description                                       | Report Availability      |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------ |
| Playlist starts               | Number of times a playlist started playing        | Playlist reports, custom |
| Playlist views                | Total views of videos in a playlist               | Playlist reports, custom |
| Playlist watch time           | Total minutes watched in playlists                | Playlist reports, custom |
| Videos added to playlists     | How many times videos were added to playlists     | Playlist reports, custom |
| Videos removed from playlists | How many times videos were removed from playlists | Playlist reports, custom |

#### Audience metrics

These provide demographic and device information.

| Metric               | Description                            | Report Availability               |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Viewer percentage    | % of views from a specific demographic | Custom with audience dimensions   |
| Audience watch ratio | Viewing patterns by audience segment   | Custom with demographic breakdown |

#### YouTube Premium metrics

These track performance from Premium members (if applicable).

| Metric                     | Description                     | Report Availability |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ------------------- |
| YouTube Premium views      | Views from Premium members      | Custom reports      |
| YouTube Premium watch time | Watch time from Premium members | Custom reports      |

## Available dimensions

#### Temporal dimensions

Break data down by time periods.

| Dimension                | Description                             | Applies To                                     |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Day                      | Individual calendar days                | Time-series analysis in all splittable reports |
| Month                    | Monthly grouping                        | Monthly reports and aggregations               |
| Elapsed video time ratio | How far through a video viewers watched | Viewer retention analysis                      |

#### Video & content dimensions

Identify performance by video or content characteristics.

| Dimension           | Description                     | Applies To                |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| Video               | Individual video title and ID   | Video reports, custom     |
| Playlist            | Individual playlist name        | Playlist reports, custom  |
| Content type        | Live vs. on-demand videos       | Content breakdown reports |
| Live or on demand   | Explicit live/on-demand flag    | Content reports           |
| Subscription status | Premium vs. non-Premium viewers | Subscriber breakdowns     |

#### Audience demographics

Understand your viewers by characteristics.

| Dimension | Description                                               | Applies To                                |
| --------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| Age       | Viewer age group (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+) | Subscriber and custom demographic reports |
| Gender    | Male, female, or unspecified                              | Subscriber and custom demographic reports |
| Country   | Viewer's country of origin                                | Geographic reports, custom                |
| City      | Viewer's city (US data)                                   | Geographic reports, custom                |
| Province  | Viewer's US state                                         | US-only geographic reports                |

#### Device & platform dimensions

See how audiences access content.

| Dimension        | Description                                      | Applies To                      |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------- |
| Device type      | Mobile, desktop, TV, or tablet                   | Custom device breakdown reports |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, etc.               | Custom OS breakdown reports     |
| YouTube product  | YouTube, YouTube TV, YouTube Music, YouTube Kids | Subscription status reports     |

#### Traffic source dimensions

Identify how viewers discover your content.

| Dimension                     | Description                                                                                          | Applies To                    |
| ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| Insight traffic source type   | Advertising, external links, related videos, search, subscriber feed, YouTube channel, YouTube pages | Traffic source reports        |
| Insight traffic source detail | Specific source (e.g., "Google Search" or "YouTube Search")                                          | Traffic source detail reports |
| Sharing service               | Platform shared from (Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.)                                                | Custom sharing analysis       |

## Common metric combinations

**Channel health dashboard:**

* Views, watch time, subscribers gained, likes, comments
* Broken by day for trending

**Audience retention analysis:**

* Average view percentage, average view duration, relative retention performance
* Segmented by video and device type

**Geographic performance:**

* Views, watch time, average view duration
* Broken by country and city

**Subscriber demographics:**

* New subscribers, watch time, viewer percentage
* Segmented by age, gender, and country

**Traffic source attribution:**

* Views, watch time, average view duration
* Broken by traffic source type (search, recommendations, external, etc.)

## Use cases by role

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Content Creators" %}
Track your video performance and audience growth to understand what resonates. Pull **Video detailed statistics** with views, watch time, and engagement metrics, and break them down by day to spot trends. Use **Traffic sources** to see which discovery channels drive the most views. Monitor **Subscribers gained** by country and age to understand your audience composition.
{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Channel Managers" %}
Oversee overall channel health and team performance. Build dashboards with **Channel detailed statistics** to track views, watch time, subscribers, and engagement. Segment by content type and subscriber status using **Channel statistics by content and subscriber type** to identify which content performs best. Use **Custom reports** to combine metrics by video, device, and geography for multi-dimensional analysis.
{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Analysts & Data Teams" %}
Integrate YouTube data with other sources for cross-platform reporting. Use **Custom reports** to pull specific metrics and dimensions, then join with external data (e.g., ad spend from Google Ads) in your BI tool. Automate data refresh to BigQuery or Looker Studio for real-time dashboards. Aggregate data across multiple channels using Coupler's **Append** transformation.
{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Marketing Managers" %}
Align video performance with marketing campaigns. Pull **Video detailed statistics** to measure video ROI. Use **Subscriber growth** reports to track audience expansion. Break down views and watch time by traffic source and geography to understand which marketing channels drive discovery. Use **Join** transformations to match YouTube performance with campaign spend data.
{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

## Platform-specific notes

* YouTube Analytics data is typically available within 48 hours after it's generated
* Real-time or near-real-time metrics are not available; plan accordingly when scheduling reports
* The **Subscribers gained** metric is at the channel level and cannot be filtered by video
* **Age and gender data** may show high "not specified" percentages if viewers are not logged in
* **YouTube Premium metrics** are only available if your channel is part of the YouTube Partner Program
* Some metrics (like **Annotation click-through rate**) require annotations or cards to be added to videos; if none exist, the metric will be zero
* **Live videos** are categorized as "live" in the content type dimension; on-demand videos show as "on-demand"
* Data is aggregated at the channel level in preset reports; for per-video analysis, use **Video detailed statistics** or **Custom reports**