As the World Churns

As the World Churns:

DIY videographers take note: a click isn’t what it’s cracked up to be anymore–at least not according to YouTube.
According to an announcement made today, YouTube will now rank videos on based “user engagement” instead of mere clicks. So it’s not enough to get someone to click on your video of orgami tutorials, you’ve got to get them to actually watch if you want your work rise through the ranks of search results. YouTube’s analytics will now include a “time watched” feature.
So says the mighty YouTube:

We’ve started adjusting the ranking of videos in YouTube search to reward engaging videos that keep viewers watching.  This is a continuation of ongoing efforts to focus our video discovery features on watch time.

YouTube’s move doesn’t come as a surprise, says TechCrunch:

When it updated its suggested videos algorithm, YouTube noted that it did so to “better surface the videos that viewers actually watch, over those that they click on and then abandon.”

What do you think? Is this a good thing?


Filed under: Video Making


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