YouTube Channel Analysis

The CAPSTONE Project

This is the final project in the Data Analytics Accelerator Bootcamp led by Avery Smith (DAA Bootcamp). The intention for this project is be presented with data and the analysis be self-led.

Objective

The goal for this project was to analyze data from Avery’s own YouTube Channel and do provide some insights to the following questions:

What are the best CTR Videos? What are their titles and thumbnails?
What videos drive the most revenue?
What videos drive the most subscribers?
When do people stop watching videos? What can we change?

The Data

(The data was provided by Avery in the DAA Bootcamp. Actual data will not be disclosed here for privacy.)
The data provided contained specifics on average and total watch time by country, video-specific data such as most viewed, highest CTR, total revenue, etc. The date range for this data is March 2020 to October 2023.
This analysis was done with Excel.

Key Findings

The video with the highest click-through rate (CTR) was “Export Tableau to Image” with a 12.4% CTR.
The video that generated the most revenue for this time period was “AirBnB Data Analystic Project Using SQL”.
The video that brought in the most subscribers was “Building 30 Data Science Projects in 30 Days”.
The Top 3 Countries with the most views to Avery’s Channel are: The US, India and The United Kingdom.
The Average Watch Time per video based on the top 3 countries is 2:07 minutes.
The Age-Range that watch Avery’s Channel the most fall in the 25-34 category. (51%)
The Top 3 Sources that bring in the most views are: External Sources, Shorts Feed, & Browse Features.

The Analysis

Here we have the videos with the highest CTR:

“Export Tableau to Image” has a significantly higher CTR than the next 4 videos. We can also see that the video is significantly shorter than the others as well. Based on the average Watch Time per video that we found, we can see that viewers are interested in SHORT videos that get straight to the point. “In less than 1 minute” is in the title for this video, therefore displaying its appeal plain and clear.

Next, our videos generating the highest revenue:

In this Top 5, we have “Analysis of AirBnB Data Using SQL” as the highest revenue-generating video. This is surprising considering the length of the video, but there are other factors that could have affected its success. For example, the extent to which EACH video is monetized will have a significant effect to the earning potential per video. Also, the timing of the post could have been around a holiday or a busy time for AirBnB therefore drawing out viewers to see what the analysis found.

We also found that the 3rd video in the Top 5 for revenue was actually the Tableau video that had the highest CTR above. Being able to monetize this video could have brought more revenue into the channel and maximized its potential value.

The “AirBnB Using SQL” project was the 3rd video in the lineup for the highest CTR videos. A deeper analysis into the thumbnail effectiveness could help shed some light on the reason why the Tableau Vid has a higher CTR so that this style could be replicated across videos.

In our last Top 5 lineup, the videos that drew the most subscribers:

Here, we find a in the top slot “Building 30 Data Science Projects in 30 Days” which was actually the 4th video in generating revenue for the channel. This video, though, motivated the viewers to follow the channel, pointing to highly effective content in terms of bringing the viewers in to Avery’s world and personality. Viewers may also find the title appealing as it seems like a huge feat to accomplish 30 projects in 30 days.

We can also see the “Is it worth it?” coming in at #5 in this lineup for subscribers, but it was #2 in the highest revenue-generating videos. This could point to higher monetization and content, but not as appealing thumbnail for CTR.

Let’s take a look at our Top 3 Countries for Avery’s Channel:

The United States is dominating the viewing by more than double of what India shows. The US also has the highest Average Watch Time from all three. From the top 3 countries, the average watch time overall is 2:07 minutes. This is important information to consider when making videos. It seems that the videos in Avery’s Channel have many different durations and are not consistent across the board. Perhaps a more consistent video duration could help streamline the expectations of the viewers and attract more subscribers who know what to expect from Avery’s Channel.

Views by Age Group:

Over 50% of the views on Avery’s Channel come from viewers in the age group of 25-34. This is important information to tailor video content but also to inform decisions on monetization and product promotion. Targeting this age group would move the needle in terms of the effectiveness of his content and marketing strategy.

Viewer Sources:

The highest source for views on Avery’s Channel is from External sources. This could be representative of his connection to his Data Analytics Bootcamp course to the videos in his channel, but looking into the next source, the Shorts Feed is the next highest yielding source for viewership to his channel.

This information needs to help inform thumbnails and videos titles to help attract viewers to videos associated with shorts. It would benefit Avery’s Channel greatly to take advantage of shorts on YouTube to help grow and scale his channel.

Conclusions

Our insights during this analysis help to illustrate where we need to be more consistent with Avery’s videos and where we can focus our attention to help grow viewership to the channel. We also received some insight into the ideal duration of each video and what age group we should be targeting when selecting content. Overall, a more focused direction for future postings could greatly increase revenue and subscribers to Avery’s already large following. Being able to harness this information will help build his channel to the next milestone.

This project is part of a Data Analytics Bootcamp ran by Avery Smith. Thank you Avery for putting this bootcamp out into the world and allowing people from any place in their life to dive into the world of data!

I’m currently seeking a Data Analyst role and continually learning and improving my data skills through this bootcamp and other incredible resources available on the web. Please give any feedback you have to help build and refine my toolbelt!

Please contact me with any inquiries!

Email: andrewmendez519@gmail.com