Youtube

Mysterious Youtube Stat Facts

1/2/25

So I finally decided to go back through my Youtube stats. Something I haven't done, cause I figure it's depressing. But I'm past that now. Anyway, I discovered some interesting facts. I figured I’ll do a short blog post about them. Both because it’s good info for people out there and overall its really not terrible news for me. It’s also perplexing.

First up is the average percentage viewed of a video. Sonic 2 is at 24%. Rogue Legacy at 24.3% My #1 & #2 performing videos Sheep Raider & I,Robot is 25.9% and 25.5% respectively.

So is 25% a magic number to get promoted by Youtube? Apparently not, because, Rollerball is 27%, Final Days of the NES is at 31%, Sonic Eraser is 34.6% and Sonic Edusoft is 36.7%. You get the point and I’ll refrain from listing everything. It’s not the raw minutes watched because those are all over the place too. Because 24% of Sonic 2 watched is 23 minutes. Almost the entirety of Sheep Raider and I,Robot. I’ve read over and over again it’s the percentage watched that should push a video. Well I think this all disproves it.

My click through rate is also extremely close across almost all videos at about 3-4% which is about the average click through on youtube. Sheep Raider actually stands out as low at 2.5%. That might be just because it was pushed, thus more eyes means less overall clicking obviously. The algorithmic overlords sure are mysterious. 

Why did the algorithm like these so much?

What does cause Youtube to give impressions to a video (IE recommend it to people)? I have no clue. Maybe it shared around? I couldn’t find that I,Robot or Sheep Raider were and the stats don’t show outside viewers coming in. Honestly, it gives me peace of mind. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.

And there is proof I should. I was thinking more and more that the animation work wasn’t catching anyone’s eyes. Few comment on it and obviously views weren’t coming in. However, as it turns out while checking stats there is a particular one that tracks if people are still watching at the 30 second mark. Many are 40-50%. I,Robot is 60%. Sonic 1 8-Bit is 61%. Sonic Eraser is 68%. Sonic 2 is 81%! What do these have in common? They all open with a fully animated scene. Two of those are complete cold openings even.

The average cross all of Youtube is 40%. The animated openings grab people’s attention. Wonderful. Couldn’t be better news to me.

So I’ll be keeping at it. The animation works.