YouTube Analytics Is Insight On Steroids

YouTube today announced YouTube Analytics, calling it "the next generation in Insight." Insight has always been, in my opinion, an underused tool. But while it's extremely useful, it's never been all I hoped it could be in terms of... well... insight. With YouTube Analytics, YouTube promises you'll learn far more about your video audience than you ever could before with Insight.

YouTube Analytics - Insight Grows Up

YouTube Analytics will begin rolling out today to all users. There is one catch--you'll have to be using a "modern browser," which is not defined beyond that (my guess is that Chrome works fine, though, wink wink).

YouTube Analytics is pulling from the same data that Insight did, plus a whole lot more. In a way, it's like Insight on steroids. Ask any serious YouTube creator that uses Insight if they think it's helped them improve video performance, and almost all of them will say yes. Imagine how powerful YouTube Analytics could be to creators and marketers alike.

Here are some of the features of YouTube Analytics:

• A Quick Overview: A new overview provides all of the information that you care about quickly, while also enabling you to easily access more detailed information.
• More Detailed Reports: Analytics now includes more detailed statistics so that you can have a more precise understanding of your content and audiences.
• Audience Builders: Discover which videos are driving the most views and subscriptions.
• Audience Retention: See how far viewers are watching through your video in the new audience retention report.

Because it's YouTube, you might expect them to make a video about YouTube Analytics, but that does not appear to be the case, strangely. Perhaps a video tutorial is on the way.

In its place, though, we do have a pretty sweet-looking infographic from YouTube themselves (there's no "click to see the full version" on this one, as this is the largest size YouTube offered):

The YouTube blog also directs users to the YouTube Help page for more information about Analytics.

This is pretty huge news, and a giant unwrapped Christmas present from YouTube to anyone that creates or markets video for a living. The more we can learn about our video performance and our audience, the more equipped we'll be to succeed.

I'm already seeing Analytics in my personal YouTube account, and I can't wait to dive in and check it out. What about you? Are you seeing the new YouTube Analytics yet?