YouTube just announced a number of updates that will allow video creators to see more in-depth analytics for how users are watching their videos. YouTube’s analytics now, for example, put a stronger emphasis on audience engagement and allow publishers to see an estimate of how many minutes a video was watched in total.
Another new feature the company is launching is a beta version of its annotations report. With this, publishers can see a detailed breakdown of click-through rates and close rates for their annotations. According to Google, “annotations are one of the most used features to drive audience engagement in YouTube,” and this new analytics data should help publishers optimize them for their audiences.
Another feature YouTube power users will appreciate is the service’s new-found ability to compare trends and patterns across two different metrics.
With this update, YouTube is also introducing a few small design changes to Analytics, including an easier to use data slider for selecting date ranges, as well as video hovercards that allow you to see a thumbnail of your video and some basic information about it when you hover over a link.
Google launched the current incarnation of YouTube Analytics, which replaces YouTube Insight, last November.
