If you have ever watched a video production on YouTube, you are probably aware of the recommended videos feature of the site. Essentially, after someone has watched a YouTube video, a slew of similar content is put on display for people to keep consuming media. Sometimes these suggestions were helpful, often they weren’t. But the success of this service is essential to YouTube’s ability to keep viewers on the site, so in an effort to improve their platform, the Chicago videographer social video engine has updated their recommended video function in hopes of offering the most relevant content ever.
For a while, these recommendations were the product of click-based measurement – recommendations were made based on what past user habits. But the new Related & Recommended videos section is based more on time spent watching a video.
It’s not that clicks aren’t a good measure of a video’s popularity – they are. They just can’t tell the whole story… they’re not the best measure of a video’s popularity. YouTube’s Creators blog says their research shows time-spent-watching to be a much better indicator of a viewer’s actual engagement.
Here’s a quote from their announcement:
“We’ve been experimenting with the way we offer Related and Recommended videos, focusing on video engagement to get people to the videos they like more quickly. In particular, we’ve discovered that time watched is one of the best indicators of a viewer’s engagement. As a result, we’ll be focusing more prominently on time watched in providing Related and Recommended videos starting next week. While we’ll still be looking at clicks, engagement will become the leading indicator for serving these videos.”
So basically it sounds like the algorithm powering Related & Recommended Videos has been given a healthy tweak, dialing up the importance of time-watched and bumping down the significance of a single click.
Thanks to ReelSEO for the scoop. For help with all your Chicago videographer editing, video production, marketing, and online video needs, visit Video One Productions to see what we can do for you.
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