San Francisco — Google on Wednesday slightly modified its popular video-sharing website YouTube by introducing a feature that lets video owners share stats from its analytics tool called ”YouTube Insights”. The shared info is able to be viewed by anyone watching the user’s video, which includes stats on total views, number of ratings and other metrics that show how video contents are used on YouTube.
YouTube’s large user base and monthly views can make for some interesting statistics for those interested. The site provides a lot of data to the uploaders through the YouTube Insight, the free analytics tool, such as traffic numbers and geographical or demographic information of the viewers but those are hidden from the public.
Of course, some basic info is already available, which being the total number of views, but up until now this information was confined to the user who had uploaded the video could see the extended information about who was viewing it.
Now, YouTube has decided to let uploaders share their full stats with the world by making them public on the videos they choose. The new option als allows general users the same amount of access to that information as the content owner.
“Now when you watch a video, you can learn even more about it and its audience: on the watch page, under the “Statistics & Data” section, users will be able to see more information about a video’s views over time, its popularity in different parts of the world, the top drivers of traffic, and the video’s top three audience demographics,” explains YouTube Software Engineer Jonas Yngvesson.
Things that can be shared are:
- Total Views
- Number of ratings
- Where the video is most popular (geographically)
- Popularity by demographic
- Referrals
“That is why today we are giving you the ability to make some information collected in Insight available publicly to anyone watching your videos on YouTube,” Kenny Stoltz, product manager at YouTube, said.
By turning on this feature, YouTube intends to help video owners generate more page views and make their video content more interesting to other users by engaging them with those valuable stats.
In addition, Yngvesson says that partners can attract more advertisers by allowing this information to be viewed. Advertisers are looking for brands with lots of views and audiences who are engaged. Those who fit the bill can basically show this off by sharing the data.
“We have seen popular users like Paul Telner and Chris Bosh leverage YouTube Insight to sign business deals and sponsorships,” says Yngvesson.
Advertisers can utilize the information to help them select content with their target audience. They can also find new partners of interest.
When you upload content, you have the ability to turn the feature on or off for each individual video. This can be done in the privacy settings under “My Account”.
Take A Tour Of YouTube Insight Here: