Views are also not a representation of the amount of watch time a video has accrued.
Let's use as examples two videos that last an equal amount of time. Let's say 5 minutes.
The first video has 10K views, while the second video has 5K views. This means that the video with 10K views has been watched for a higher number of times than the video with 5K views.
Supposedly the average viewer watched just 1 minute of the first video, and 3 minutes of the second video, you would have that:
- The first video, despite having 10K views has a total of 10,000 minute watch time;
- The second video with half the viewership of 5K has a total of 15,000 minute watch time.
Many creators generally post long videos to achieve this feature, but honestly, I prefer quality over length.
To explain this point, I will use three YouTubers as examples: Shallon Lester, Honest and J Aubrey. I am subscribed to all three of them.
Shallon's videos last an average of 25 minutes, but I feel like she could say what she wants to say in 10 minutes. Sometimes I get fed up and stop watching as she is just rambling on and has completely drifted from the topic and subject of the video.
Honest's videos can be as short as 5 minutes, but I always watch everything. He goes straight to the point, and packs a lot of information within that brief amount of time.
J Aubrey posts videos that are often over 1 hour long. His videos are like documentaries. Even though I do not know most of the people that he talks about (mainly influencers), I still watch just to know what he has to say about them.
J Aubrey has a total of 58,275,033 views, Shallon has 67,508,379 views, and Honest has 114,678,099 views.
Among the three, J Aubrey has the highest number of subscribers with over 600K subscribers. Honest has about 500K subscribers, while Shallon has 350K subscribers.
Shallon posts at least once a week. Sometimes she posts up to three times in a week. Honest posts frequently too but not as much as Shallon. J Aubrey might spend two months without posting a single video.
Given these stats, who do you think should have the most watch time? When you consider the amount of subscribers, length of videos and frequency with which the creator uploads, Shallon Lester should have the most watch time, but she doesn't.
I wouldn't be surprised if Honest with his 5 minute videos had the highest watch time.
Why am I writing this post?
When I found out in March that Facebook had completely changed their monetization policy and requirements for in stream ads, I was demoralized. It totally caught me off guard, ruined the plan that I had been working on for the last couple of months, and left me wondering how I was going to rack up 600K minute watch time in 60 days without the help of ads. But last night I became hopeful again.
Last night, after intentionally avoiding to check my insights for several months, I did, and I liked what I saw. Even though my views without ads have remained significantly low, I do have a good watch time. People generally watch my videos for more than 1 minute and that is good if you consider that my videos are on an average 5 minutes long.
I'm so optimistic that I have decided to carry on with my current and revised strategy to keep pushing for recognition, rather than viewership. I'm positive that, one day, I'll hit that ridiculous target. It might take me a year or two, but I will, eventually.
So, if you are thinking of going into blogging, don't be discouraged. There isn't really a formula that works for everybody. Just focus on delivering the best content you can afford.
As for me, you will keep seeing me on Osaremen's wall for as long as she is willing to share my videos.
Good day.
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