YouTube Watch Hours: The Ultimate Guide
In 2018, YouTube announced new guidelines regarding monetization, which raised the requirements that creators or channels had to meet. As per these guidelines, all creators had to obtain 4000 hours of watch time in 12 months on their channel in order to apply for monetization. In addition to this, they also needed to have at least 1,000 subscribers. This eligibility criterion was enforced for all channels on 20th February, 2018. This left many creators worried and confused. However, there are a lot of ways to get 4000 hours of watch time. One way to buy YouTube watch hours from SoNuker.
In this article, we will conduct a comprehensive in-depth analysis of YouTube watch hours. With the right information and tools, you will be able to devise a strategy that will get you the required watch time for your channel.
Breaking Down 4000 Hours of YouTube Watch Time
To obtain the required 4000 hours of YouTube watch time, the first and foremost thing you have to do is make sure that the videos are public. Any videos you created in the past, that have been set to private or deleted by you will not be counted in these 4000 hours. If you hold live streams, remember not to set them as unlisted. This is because the watch time of the live streams will not be counted either if are not added to your video list. If you look at the YouTube guidelines, it dictates that overall 4000 hours of watch time has to be obtained in 12 months. However, the videos do not have to necessarily be published in the last 12 months. The key takeaway from the YouTube guidelines is that they need to be watched by the viewers in the last 52 weeks. When you consider the 4000 hours, you need to decide on the number of videos you would need to make in a year to reach this target. In addition to this, you also need to take into account the average number of views required for each video and also the length of each of these videos. The issue of targeting a specific number of subscribers will not be dealt with in this article separately. When you try to reach your target of 4000 watch time hours, the subscriber count will gradually pick up by itself. Since there are a lot of variables in play here, we can assume a few things. Firstly, each video you made in a period of 12 months is supposedly getting a good number of ‘pure views’. By pure views, we mean that each of these videos was watched entirely. When doing the calculation, we will also not take into account the older videos which can suddenly bump your watch time count after being rewatched by the viewers.Devising a Formula to Achieve the 4000 Watch Time Hours Target
Let us take a look at the Mathematics of reaching the 4000 hours of YouTube watch time. For starting with the calculation, we know that 4000 hours of watch time will equal 2,40,000 minutes. YouTube usually prefers 10 minute long videos, so we decide to keep this as the baseline. Based on the aforementioned assumptions and information, we can reach 2,40,000 minutes in a few different ways.- By making 2,40,000 videos that are each 10 minutes long. The goal of each of these videos is to get 1 view.
- By making 2,400 videos that are each 10 minutes long. The goal of each of these videos is to get 10 views.
Alternate Recommendations
There are alternative and more flexible ways of achieving the 2,40,000 minutes target, depending on the amount of effort and time you want to put in. You can decide on creating 1 to 3 videos in a week that are each 10 to 15 minutes long. In addition to this, you can create a monthly or weekly live stream lasting 60 minutes. Keep in mind, that you would need to keep up with the quality and the promotion of the content. These can yield the following results in terms of watch time minutes –- 1 video a week x 15 minutes = 780 minutes of video content in 52 weeks.
- 2 videos a week x 15 minutes = 1,560 minutes of video content in 52 weeks.
- 3 videos a week x 15 minutes = 2,340 minutes of video content in 52 weeks.
- 1 live stream video a week x 60 minutes = 3,120 minutes of live stream video content in 52 weeks.
- 1 live stream video a month x 60 minutes = 720 minutes of live stream video content in 52 weeks.
Tips For Making Videos that Boost Your Watch Time Success
1. Create Evergreen Content
If you go through your video log, you might find a lot of older videos that still continue to receive a lot of views. As a content consumer, there must be some videos that you go back to watch time and again. These are what are known as evergreen content videos. If you want to increase your watch time on YouTube, you should consider incorporating more evergreen content in your videos. These types of videos usually consist of those that answer some common questions people are curious about. Alternatively, you can make videos that provide some valuable information about popular topics. It is often difficult to get discovered on YouTube. To make sure that you come up in the YouTube search results, you can incorporate some form of evergreen content. This can be done in addition to buying 4000 watch hours. You should try to choose a topic which people usually come back to, like a review for some software, a how-to or instructional video for some things, or a gameplay video. These videos tend to last longer in terms of getting watch time and views. However, a lot depends on the shelf life of a topic. After you have at least 5 to 10 videos with evergreen content, your views will most likely increase. And, as your views increase, you will get closer to your target of 4000 watch hours.2. Create Longer Videos
Another great way to increase your watch time is by creating videos that have a longer length. To explain this, we will take an example of two videos of different lengths. Let us say that Video 1 is around 7-8 minutes long, while Video 2 is around 47 minutes long. The shorter length Video 1 might get around 1,400-1,500 views, while the longer Video 2 might only get 450-500. Now, let’s say that Video 1 gets around 69.2 hours of watch time, while Video 2 gets 50.2 hours of watch time. From the figures given above, it might seem that Video 1 has better statistics in terms of performance. However, the performance of Video 2 will still be good if we take into account the combined watch time. This indicates how powerful longer videos can be. Even though the average watch time percentage for longer videos is less, they make up for it when the viewers watch these detailed videos all the way to the end. Besides, longer videos also get shared more frequently than shorter videos. As you churn out longer videos, you can also buy YouTube watch hours to aid in the process of reaching your goal of 4000 YouTube watch time hours.3. Create Livestreams
Livestreams are a great idea to get closer to your watch time goal. When you start with live streams, you might notice that you only get around 50 to 100 people in the initial days. The key is to keep coming out with live streams and you will notice your viewers steadily increasing. As your viewers increase, you will be able to earn more watch time. This is evident when we do some simple calculations. Suppose you hold a 2-hour long live stream, and you have around 600 people watching them, the watch time would come out to around 1,200 hours. However, if you are relatively new to YouTube and content creation, live streams are probably not the best option. This is because there are very few chances of people tuning in to your live stream if you do not have an established brand in the YouTube space. You can consider doing live streams around 6 to 9 months after starting your content creation journey on YouTube. Even if you are able to get 20 viewers in an hour-long video, you still get a good watch time. Cultivating an audience takes time. However, once you have a dedicated audience, you will be able to ensure that your videos get ‘pure views’.4. Buy YouTube Watch Hours
The best way to get more authority for your YouTube channel and derive monetization benefits is by buying 4000 watch hours from a legitimate service provider, like SoNuker. By setting your channel on the right track, you can reach that next level with real traffic, promotions, press releases, and campaigns. When you buy YouTube watch hours, they are delivered to you in the form of views. With high-quality views consistently coming in for your videos, you will be able to reach the threshold of 4000 hours and derive monetization benefits in no time. The watch hours are provided by using different strategies for marketing. These strategies depend on the type of channel and the length of the videos. In ideal conditions, the delivery of 4000 hours is completed within a maximum of 14 days if the creator keeps up with the production of videos. When the required watch time is delivered in the form of high-quality views, you can be ensured of a high retention value.5. Create Videos Consistently
If you want to cross that threshold of 4000 watch time hours, the last but most important thing you have to do is keep up with content creation consistently. Creating viral videos might give a sudden boost to your channel, and you might get a lot of views in one or two videos because of one viral video. However, you should try to aim for better content on a regular basis. You should try to improve on every aspect of content creation consistently, whether it is editing, good titles, or the quality of thumbnails. Try to aim for 1 to 2 percent improvement each time. It would be a good idea to replicate the type of content that gives you positive signals. When you create good quality videos consistently, your videos will be shared with the right audience and you will be able to gain a significant number of views.Why Should You Buy Watch Time from SoNuker.com
Although the formula and calculations make sense on paper, their practical application comes with some problems. For starters, coming up with ideas for video content requires a significant amount of time and energy. Churning out high-quality videos 5 times a week with consistently good views can leave you feeling burned out. Over time, it will drain your creative energy out. This is where you SoNuker comes in. If you want to join the YouTube partner program and derive monetization benefits, SoNuker can help you in achieving the target of 4000 Watch Time hours. Buying watch time becomes easy with the premium services offered by us. We have three options for increasing Watch Time hours. You can choose any of the three to increase your chances of monetization, and set yourself on the path to success –- 1,000 YouTube watch hours – $300
- 2,000 YouTube watch hours – $450
- 3,000 YouTube watch hours – $550