Marketers, businesses and Internet users alike have often wondered when Google Analytics will pave the way for simple video data collection. Sure, you can jiggle around bits of fiddly code to get a rough idea of how your video content is doing through Google Analytics Events, but it has always been a lot of hassle for very little information.

Luckily then Google saw fit to introduce YouTube Insight for YouTube users back in 2008, which made the whole video analytics game so much easier.  Although Google didn’t want to stop there, with Google+ giving the Google brand a new facelift the search engine giants wanted to roll out a widespread makeover on the web, which has brought with it a slick new look to YouTube Insight – YouTube Analytics.

What’s New?

YouTube Analytics possess all the attributes of a traditional makeover in that it has a new layout, new colour scheme, new titles for reports and slick looking buttons, but underneath all the glamour, is it still just YouTube Insight?

Well, to a degree, yes. There are of course a lot of the same functions we’ve come to expect from YouTube Insight such as Views statistics, Demographic data and the video specific information from Audience Retention (the new look of Hot Spots). Although what is new here is that there is a rather informative split between Traffic Sources and Playback Location, which was not offered to users in its previous Insight format.

This split helps to distinguish where your videos are being watched and where users are finding your YouTube Channel and YouTube videos on the web, which is very informative if you’re embedding your YouTube content on websites other than the YouTube site.

Perhaps the real difference with YouTube Analytics is its divide between View Reports and Engagement Reports, and it is this new expansion of engagement data that makes YouTube Analytics more than just a pretty face.

Engagement Reports can provide everything from Subscriber analysis to Like/Dislike breakdowns of your entire video catalogue. This social focus is perfect for assessing the popularity of your video content and whether it is penetrating the YouTube community successfully.

By utilising both View Reports and Engagement Reports you can factor together what Traffic Sources are providing your video content with the most engagement, what Playback Locations are generating the most Shares, and what nationalities, age groups and genders are more prone to Subscribing to the video content you have to offer.

There is a large array of conclusions that can be derived from the new, almost business-esque facilities facelift of YouTube Analytics, and all of them are essential for creating effective video productions.

Is YouTube Analytics Fashion Over Function?

Arguably the statistics on display are pretty similar to that of the likes of Tube Mogul and the original incarnation of YouTube Insight, so is the new YouTube Analytics look really fashion over function?

Not at all, in fact YouTube Analytics new look is far more intuitive than ever before, and provides an enjoyable user experience, reminiscent of a much simpler form of Google Analytics. Its new look merely makes the information much easier to digest and assess than ever before.

Its ability to quickly and efficiently filter important information, categories and even video content all on the same page via its pop-out page system, makes the YouTube Analytics system a joy to navigate and an effortless journey to obtain the information you need.

Conclusion

The changes present on YouTube Analytics are certainly much more than a facelift, in fact the changes provide all the experiences and data you’d expect to receive if Google Analytics had provided in depth video analysis from the start. The name change alone to YouTube does show that this new model of the Insight system is indeed the YouTube equivalent of the highly regarded analytics tool from its search engine counterpart.

The ease of Views and Engagement information integration, simple platform navigation and effortless data analysis makes YouTube Analytics a welcome triumph for analysing video content, which is furthered by the fact that this fantastic tool is still absolutely free for YouTube users to use.

YouTube Analytics is so much more than a prom night makeover and will surely be an essential tool in any video producers marketing arsenal.

About The Author
Andy Havard is a Marketing Executive at Skeleton Productions, a UK based marketing video production company.