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

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.

Channel Managers

Analysts & Data Teams

Marketing Managers

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