I watched a few videos about audience retention rate. Interestingly, one YouTuber explained that while you should aim for a higher audience retention rate between 50-70%, you don’t actually need that high of a retention rate to be suggested by YouTube. She went into her analytics and her three most popular/successful videos only had a 30% retention rate but were consistently getting views and active engagement. She also explained those are the videos that are consistently being suggested. I thought that was really interesting to look at. Yes, strive for people to watch the entire video. Yes, you should aim to improve your audience retention rate. Aim to have people stay on your video, but you’re not failing if your audience retention rate is 30%. Something I’d look at is how is your engagement and other factors as well... Answer from Deleted User on reddit.com
Reddit
reddit.com › r/youtubers › [question] is 30% audience retention rate low?
r/youtubers on Reddit: [Question] Is 30% audience retention rate low?
May 1, 2020 -
I am a new youtuber and my videos are around 5-6 minutes. My analytics show that the audience retention rate for these videos are just over 30% which means people on average watch my videos for 1:30 mins. Do you think it's low in general?
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I watched a few videos about audience retention rate. Interestingly, one YouTuber explained that while you should aim for a higher audience retention rate between 50-70%, you don’t actually need that high of a retention rate to be suggested by YouTube. She went into her analytics and her three most popular/successful videos only had a 30% retention rate but were consistently getting views and active engagement. She also explained those are the videos that are consistently being suggested. I thought that was really interesting to look at. Yes, strive for people to watch the entire video. Yes, you should aim to improve your audience retention rate. Aim to have people stay on your video, but you’re not failing if your audience retention rate is 30%. Something I’d look at is how is your engagement and other factors as well...
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The "golden" number given by YouTube gurus is 50%. Basically if you start hitting 50% on your videos it's a benchmark for your giant growth spurt. So that being said, I expect most answers here to be well under 50%. If you're getting 30% that's really good in my opinion. You'll need to factor in video length too. There's nothing wrong with 5 minute content. But if you can capture people's attention for 30% of a 10 min video though, your watch time would double. However if you can only capture their attention for 1.5 min (30% of a 5 min video) then your retention rate just dropped in half. But those are different metrics that go hand in hand. Watch time is what tells YouTube it's a good video and to promote it. Retention tells you where you are keeping and losing people so you can make better content.
IFTTT
ifttt.com › explore › good-audience-retention-youtube
What is good audience retention on YouTube? - IFTTT
August 2, 2024 - So, what is considered good audience retention on YouTube? The answer is not straightforward, as it can vary depending on the length and type of video. However, a general rule of thumb is to aim for an audience retention rate of at least 50%.
Views4You
views4you.com › home › blog › what’s a good audience retention rate on youtube?
What's a Good Audience Retention Rate on YouTube? - Views4You
October 14, 2025 - If your YouTube audience retention rate is more than 20%, it can be considered adequate. However, a good audience retention rate on YouTube is typically 50% or higher, while 60%+ is considered excellent, especially for longer videos.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/partneredyoutube › what is considered good viewer retention?
r/PartneredYoutube on Reddit: What is considered good viewer retention?
May 20, 2023 -
Hi guys, I just want to do a quick survey about user retention.
Here's the stats for my videos:
First 30sec: retention usually drops to about 70%. 60% if it's bad.
By the end of the video, it is usually about 30%. If it's good, it will be 40%.
Is this considered good? My vids are usually 8-10 mins long. I'm wondering if people are getting way higher retention? What's your statistic like?
I currently have 4k subs. And I'm trying to figure out how much more effort should I put into upping the quality, hoping to get more retention.
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This is hard to answer because there are so many variables. However, a good viewer retention for long form YouTube videos is at least 50%. My videos are 15 to 20 minutes long and I usually get 7-10 minute retention. Recently, retention has fallen to about 5-8 minutes. I want to improve my stats so I started to use services like Marketing Heaven and promote my content on other social media sites. I also do a lot of collaborations.
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It’s all very fluid and arbitrary but a viewer drop to about 70/60% in the first 30 seconds is fairly typical. A viewer retention from 30/60% is very good by the end of a video. You’ll be wanting to get around the 50% mark (ish) to rank well in the search results. Remember, the viewer retention is probably the most important metric. YouTube wants people to stay on their platform and the more a viewer watches your video, the more confident YouTube will be that your video is solving a problem or providing something worth watching.
Promise Media
promisemedia.com › content-development › youtube-retention-rate-thrives-on-simple-tips
YouTube Retention Rate Thrives on Simple Tips
December 30, 2021 - Tip: Retention rates above 70 percent mean there is an opportunity for longer videos. Longer videos increase advertising potential, monetization and total viewer time. The retention rate is one piece of information that tells YouTube something ...
Descript
descript.com › blog › article › audience-retention-on-youtube
5 Ways to Boost Audience Retention on YouTube from Real Creators
September 25, 2024 - For most creators, a good audience retention rate is 40%–50% or more for long-form YouTube videos.
Endavo Media
endavomedia.com › home › audience retention: calculation and simple strategies for optimization
Audience Retention Importance and Optimization Strategies | Endavo
December 29, 2023 - An audience retention rate of 65% means that on average, viewers watch 65% of your video. When measuring a video’s audience retention, YouTube splits its data into two different metrics: absolute audience retention and relative audience retention.
Shno
shno.co › startup-metrics › audience-retention-rate
What is Audience Retention Rate? – Formula and Ways to Increase Audience Retention Rate [With Examples]
VidIQ’s YouTuber-in-residence Rob Wilson gives an average number: “If your video is longer than 5 minutes, and audience retention is above 50%, you’re probably doing a good job,” Wilson says.
Databox
databox.com › home › 9 ways to improve audience retention on youtube
9 Ways to Improve Audience Retention on YouTube | Databox
July 10, 2025 - Databox’s research, however, reveals that typical retention rates are slightly above 30%. *Editor’s note: Ready to track watch-time trends? Download the YouTube Watch Time Performance Dashboard template and try it free during your trial.
Social Video Plaza
socialvideoplaza.com › en › articles › youtube-audience-retention
YouTube Audience retention - less important than you think
The CTR being lower (while more people click) and still being promoted corroborates my statements about the uselessness of Click Through Rate as metric in my article on the misinformation regarding YouTube Click Through Rate. Here is a table with the averages across YouTube, released by YouTube themselves: What a good average audience retention is, depends on your niche, competition and length of the video.
Google Support
support.google.com › youtube › answer › 9314415
Measure key moments for audience retention - Android - YouTube Help
The detailed activity report available within audience retention shows the absolute number of views for different segments of your video. You can also use this report to see how many viewers started and stopped watching your video at various moments. Consider using data about when viewers start and stop watching your video to improve your content and maintain the viewer’s interest. Note: The absolute number of views for a segment of a video is expected at times to exceed your video’s overall view count.
Quora
quora.com › What’s-a-good-audience-retention-rate-for-a-YouTube-video
What’s a good audience retention rate for a YouTube video? - Quora
Answer (1 of 6): I saw people answering only what is audience retention? But no one is telling you the right and accurate answer. It is not everything on YouTube because other factors are out there which are more important such as CTR, watch time and engagement. But, it is also the most importa...
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
How Much Audience Retention On YouTube Is Good? You Won't Believe the Answer! - YouTube
Get My Free Audience Retention Checklist: https://www.drostdesigns.com/retentionIn this video you'll discover top benefits of audience retention, what YouTub...
Published July 23, 2024
Subscribr
subscribr.ai › p › what-is-good-youtube-audience-retention
What 'Good' Audience Retention Actually Looks Like (And How to Get There) | Subscribr
If your videos help achieve that by holding attention, YouTube rewards you by showing your content to a wider audience. This directly impacts your channel's discoverability and potential for monetization through increased watch time and ad views. Here's the truth that can be frustrating but is essential to understand: there is no single, universal "good" audience retention percentage that applies to every video on YouTube.
Teleprompter
teleprompter.com › blog › youtube-audience-retention
Teleprompter.com | Master YouTube Audience Retention for Vlogs & Videos
When looking at the numbers, set realistic benchmarks for a good audience retention rate. Many channels consider around 40-50% to be decent for a longer video. You may aim higher, but the key is improvement over time.
BlackHatWorld
blackhatworld.com › home › forums › social media › youtube
What is your Audience Retention rate? (YouTube) | BlackHatWorld
January 21, 2023 - 35% retention is really good for 10-12 minutes. It's hard to retain viewers the longer your videos are. You need to check analytics and find reasons why and when people are leaving.
Backlinko
backlinko.com › home › audience retention
Audience Retention: How to Keep Viewers Hooked
March 7, 2025 - Videos with high Audience Retention ... published a video that’s 10 minutes long. If people watch your video for an average of 5 minutes, your Audience Retention on that video is 50%....
YouTube
youtube.com › shorts › qtbpGCudDiE
What The Average AUDIENCE RETENTION Is On YouTube - YouTube
In this video, you will find what the average audience retention rate is on YouTube, according to several reports, including Databox. 🚀 Grow on YouTube usin...
Published November 12, 2022
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
YouTube Retention Rates Uncovered: What Every Creator Should Strive For - YouTube
So how much audience retention is good? Based upon the results I've shown, aim for audience retention rate that's 30% or higher an impressions click through ...
Published August 27, 2024
vidIQ
vidiq.com › home › blog › increase audience retention youtube
How to Increase Audience Retention on Every YouTube Video
January 21, 2022 - So for example, if you post a 12-minute video, and people watch for eight minutes on average, your audience retention rate is 66%. In the YouTube Studio, you’ll see different moments within a video that affect your audience retention, such as: