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subscribers, but also my watch hours are not far away from 4000.While I’ve made some calculations, I’ve realized from what I have seen and compared with the average YouTuber complaining on Reddit that they struggle with the watch hours, my content is viewed 5–10x as per my subscriber ratio.This means two things:<ul><li>My videos are often recommended by YouTube, but I don’t have a “subscribe” strategy, so people rarely subscribe.</li><li>When monetized, my earnings will be higher than usual because of the watch time.</li></ul>As per the average on this YouTube Channel, I have had 2 minutes and 12 seconds of watch time per video in the past 90 days. But there’s a video or two that changed the balance, and my average view duration is over 4 minutes.<figure id="ab3c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*N_2s6iF7REbADysO5mlCrw.png"><figcaption>Screenshot captured by the author of his best video results (analytics)</figcaption></figure>Therefore, a single video was able to bring me 1.5k watch hours with 21.7k views. And that’s a lot compared to my entire YouTube content production experience across multiple channels.<h1 id="12a6">How do I push the watch hours?</h1>It’s all about the content you create.While three or 4-minute videos may seem the perfect length, they won’t bring you many hours of watching unless you have tens of thousands of views or even more.I tend to create 10+ minute videos. This specific

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video is about 16 minutes long, though.So, in this case, if you struggle with the watch hours, I always recommend long-form, high-quality content to put all your work and focus on a single killer video that WILL take off and bring you the view time you need.From my experimentation, if the subject is well-niched and attractive, you can capture your audience’s attention to watch the entire video in no time. But you need to have a hook, something at the beginning to keep them engaged and to provide that value the watcher is aiming to find in your videos.Boring long videos will never find their success in viewership and many watch hours. Nobody wants to watch a boring and unedited video.That’s why, at times, I put all my effort and creativity into a single long-format video, well-edited with effects and modern transitions, catchy royalty-free music, and hooks within the video that’ll keep the viewer energized.And if you forget or ignore the call-to-action “Subscribe” in your video, you’ll get to be like me, having videos with many watch hours but a low subscriber count.Overall, I think it is more important to have people watch your video on their willingness rather than pushing to a bunch of non-interested subscribers that will give you a low watch time or simply ignore the video.That’s why I’ve removed my focus from these call-to-action spammy “please subscribe if you have found our video helpful.”</article></body>

My YouTube Pathway to Monetization: Watch Hours are Skyrocketing!

Many YouTubers are experiencing a contrasting struggle. They get the subscribers but not the watch hours to reach monetization. What have I done differently to be the opposite way?

Screenshot captured by the author of his YouTube partner program progress

Some of you may already have success with YouTube, while some others are struggling big time.

The average YouTuber reaches 1000 subscribers the first way before the required watch hours. I’m on the opposite path, and here’s what I have to share with you.

To get monetized on YouTube by displaying ads on your videos, you’ll need to reach 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours in the past 12 months.

This may seem like a lot, but it’s not, especially if you constantly upload videos of good quality that attract many viewers.

Watch time is a struggle for many new YouTubers. While you can push the average viewer to subscribe to your channel, you can’t force them to watch your entire video.

This creates an imbalance where many YouTubers are reaching over 1000 subscribers, but the watch hours are meager, on average between 1000 and 2000.

I have a YouTube channel that’s steadily growing, but the unexpected has happened. I have close to 300 subscribers, but also my watch hours are not far away from 4000.

While I’ve made some calculations, I’ve realized from what I have seen and compared with the average YouTuber complaining on Reddit that they struggle with the watch hours, my content is viewed 5–10x as per my subscriber ratio.

This means two things:

My videos are often recommended by YouTube, but I don’t have a “subscribe” strategy, so people rarely subscribe.
When monetized, my earnings will be higher than usual because of the watch time.

As per the average on this YouTube Channel, I have had 2 minutes and 12 seconds of watch time per video in the past 90 days. But there’s a video or two that changed the balance, and my average view duration is over 4 minutes.

Screenshot captured by the author of his best video results (analytics)

Therefore, a single video was able to bring me 1.5k watch hours with 21.7k views. And that’s a lot compared to my entire YouTube content production experience across multiple channels.

How do I push the watch hours?

It’s all about the content you create.

While three or 4-minute videos may seem the perfect length, they won’t bring you many hours of watching unless you have tens of thousands of views or even more.

I tend to create 10+ minute videos. This specific video is about 16 minutes long, though.

So, in this case, if you struggle with the watch hours, I always recommend long-form, high-quality content to put all your work and focus on a single killer video that WILL take off and bring you the view time you need.

From my experimentation, if the subject is well-niched and attractive, you can capture your audience’s attention to watch the entire video in no time. But you need to have a hook, something at the beginning to keep them engaged and to provide that value the watcher is aiming to find in your videos.

Boring long videos will never find their success in viewership and many watch hours. Nobody wants to watch a boring and unedited video.

That’s why, at times, I put all my effort and creativity into a single long-format video, well-edited with effects and modern transitions, catchy royalty-free music, and hooks within the video that’ll keep the viewer energized.

And if you forget or ignore the call-to-action “Subscribe” in your video, you’ll get to be like me, having videos with many watch hours but a low subscriber count.

Overall, I think it is more important to have people watch your video on their willingness rather than pushing to a bunch of non-interested subscribers that will give you a low watch time or simply ignore the video.

That’s why I’ve removed my focus from these call-to-action spammy “please subscribe if you have found our video helpful.”