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YouTube
July 26, 2024
8
min read
Noam Yadin

Best YouTube analytics tools

Whether you are a content creator or a brand marketer looking to boost your viewing numbers, understanding YouTube analytics tools is essential. As a creator, whether your goal is to monetize through YouTube Adsense or secure sponsorship deals, views are a critical component. As a brand marketer, interested in sponsoring YouTube content, being able to analyze and evaluate YouTube channels is paramount. Understanding what your target audience likes and wants is critical if you want to achieve success on YouTube. This is where YouTube analytics comes into play. 

What are YouTube analytics? 

YouTube analytics provides invaluable insights and data about a channel's performance. These analytics offer a comprehensive view of how the channel’s videos are performing, who the audience is, and how viewers are engaging with the content.

How do brands use YouTube analytics tools? 

  1. Performance evaluation: YouTube analytics provide valuable data to assess the performance of videos on a channel. By analyzing metrics like views, watch time, and engagement, you can identify which videos are resonating with audiences and which ones need improvement. This data allows you to make informed decisions about content strategy and focus on videos that have a higher chance of success.
  2. YouTube demographics: Understanding your audience is crucial for a successful YouTube channel. Analytics provide demographic information such as age, gender, and location of your viewers. This knowledge helps you tailor your content to better meet their interests and preferences, ensuring higher engagement and loyalty.
  3. Content optimization: YouTube analytics reveal which sources are driving traffic to your channel, such as search, suggested videos, or external websites. By identifying the most effective traffic sources, you can optimize your content and promotional efforts accordingly. This allows you to reach a wider audience and increase your channel's visibility.
  4. Engagement and interaction: Metrics like likes, dislikes, comments, and shares give you insights into how viewers are engaging with your content. By monitoring these metrics, you can gauge the impact and effectiveness of your videos and encourage audience interaction. Responding to comments and engaging with your viewers fosters a sense of community and strengthens your relationship with your audience.
  5. Monetization and revenue: YouTube analytics provide data on revenue-related metrics, such as estimated earnings, ad performance, and subscriber growth. By tracking these metrics, you can assess the financial performance of your channel and make adjustments to maximize your monetization potential. Understanding which videos generate higher revenue can help you focus on creating content that is both engaging and profitable.

With so many YouTube analytics tools available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one. To help you boost your YouTube strategy, here are the top YouTube analytics tools out there.

Top 10 YouTube analytics tools

1. ThoughtLeaders’ Platform

The ThoughtLeaders platform gathers and analyzes data from millions of YouTube channels, developing advanced metrics that enable users to identify the top-performing channels easily. Whether it's total views, sponsorship history, engagement rates, projected views, evergreen content, or numerous other key metrics, the platform allows users to analyze and monitor any YouTube creator or campaign. The platform’s creator analytics pages show sponsorship data and analyze a channel’s sponsorship history and potential. In addition to the sponsorship data, the creator analytic pages also include recommended sponsorship rates - which is calculated with our ThoughtLeaders Sponsorship Algorithm™ - that consists of important metrics that affects channels sponsorship pricing. You can sign up for the platform here.

Some of the top metrics on the platform include:

Projected Views: The ThoughtLeaders’ algorithm’s goal is to determine how many views the next video on that channel will receive within its first 90 days. This helps brands better understand how a video on that channel will perform if you booked a sponsorship with them today. By plugging in the channel’s URL, its projected views will be automatically calculated and included in the computation.

Evergreen Score: This metric analyzes data to understand each video's story. The evergreen score reveals which videos will continue to get views over time and which have lost their appeal. It allows users, agents, marketers, and others to explore why specific videos perform this way, what makes content ‘evergreen’, and what causes content to flatline. The evergreen score helps identify anomalies, highlighting videos that maintain viewership long after being published. This metric benefits both creators and brands. For creators, it identifies videos that can generate sustained views over time, allowing them to earn more while producing fewer videos. For brands, sponsoring evergreen videos offers significant advantages by providing long-term exposure and free additional views. This is a key benefit of YouTube sponsorships compared to other social media. Moreover, our platform provides an evergreen score at both the video and channel levels.

Keyword Search: The keyword search can help creators and marketers in any and every category discover trending topics and unlock strategic opportunities by searching for specific keywords. These keywords can be general or uber-specific to a niche. This is a unique feature not found on other platforms. The advanced filtering and search capabilities  allow users to discover channels based on very specific and niche topics, taking channel discovery to the next level.

Other featured metrics include engagement rate, audience loyalty, back catalog views, sponsorship score, fulfillment rate, renewal rate, deleted content, and more.

Sign up for our platform for free to analyze any channel. 

ThoughtLeaders also offers the ThoughtLeaders' Partner Program, featuring a network of verified creators from the top 5% of YouTubers, handpicked for their reliability with brand sponsorships. Find out more about the program here

2. YouTube Analytics

YouTube Analytics is the official analytics platform provided by YouTube itself. It offers a wide range of features to monitor your channel's performance, including views, watch time, audience demographics, traffic sources, engagement metrics, and revenue information. This platform also reveals when your audience is active on YouTube, what other channels they are interested in, and you can explore what keywords your viewers are searching. The platform is free to use and is directly integrated into your YouTube account. 

The pros of YouTube Analytics include its comprehensive set of data, real-time insights, and seamless integration with your channel. However, some users find the interface overwhelming, and it lacks some advanced features compared to third-party tools.

3. TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is a popular YouTube analytics and productivity tool. It provides a variety of features to enhance your YouTube channel's performance, including keyword research, competitor analysis, video SEO optimization, and bulk editing. TubeBuddy offers both free and premium plans, with pricing starting at $9/month. 

The pros of TubeBuddy include its user-friendly interface, extensive feature set, and helpful browser extensions. However, the free version has limited functionality, and some advanced features require a higher-priced subscription.

4. VidIQ

VidIQ is an online education website that offers video tutorials, as well as, analytics on YouTube channel growth. VidIQ’s YouTube analytics tools offers features like keyword research, competitor analysis, video SEO recommendations, and performance tracking. VidIQ provides both free and premium plans, with pricing starting at $7.50/month. 

The pros of VidIQ include its robust analytics, user-friendly interface, and valuable insights for growing your channel. However, some users find the pricing a bit high, and certain features may be overwhelming for beginners.

5. Tubular Labs

Tubular Labs is an enterprise-level analytics platform that focuses on in-depth YouTube and video intelligence. It offers features like audience insights, content performance tracking, influencer identification, and competitive analysis. One of Tubular Lab’s most interesting features is its ‘Audience Also Watches’ tool, which allows creators to understand what kind of videos their audience likes to watch. This can not only help YouTubers better understand their viewers watching patterns, but help them come up with new ideas for content. 

The pros of Tubular Labs include its advanced analytics capabilities, powerful data visualization, and comprehensive reporting. However, it is more suitable for larger brands and agencies due to its high pricing and complex features.

6. Social Blade

Social Blade is a popular analytics platform that provides insights into YouTube channel statistics, including subscriber counts, view counts, and estimated earnings. It offers detailed graphs and historical data, making it easier to track growth trends over time. Social Blade also provides comparative analytics, allowing users to benchmark their performance against competitors.

Pros: Social Blade is praised for its comprehensive historical data and comparative analytics features. It’s free to use with optional premium plans that unlock additional insights. Cons: Some users find that the data can be slightly outdated or less precise than other platforms, and its user interface might feel basic compared to more modern tools.

7. Social Blue Book

Social Blue Book offers a platform designed to help influencers and brands determine the value of their social media reach, including YouTube. It provides metrics related to engagement, reach, and estimated earnings, and helps with influencer valuation for brand partnerships. The tool also integrates with various social platforms.

Pros: Social Blue Book is useful for assessing influencer value and streamlining partnership negotiations. It offers a straightforward valuation system that can aid in setting fair compensation. Cons: It might lack the depth of analytics available on other dedicated YouTube platforms, and some features are gated behind premium plans.

8. IZEA

IZEA is primarily known for influencer marketing and content creation partnerships, but it also offers analytics for YouTube and other social platforms. It provides insights into engagement metrics, audience demographics, and campaign performance.

Pros: IZEA excels in managing influencer partnerships and tracking campaign success. Its analytics are integrated with its influencer marketing services. Cons: Its focus on influencer marketing means that its YouTube analytics features may not be as comprehensive as those of platforms dedicated solely to analytics.

9. Unbox Social

Unbox Social is a social media analytics tool that includes YouTube analytics among its features. It provides data on video performance, audience engagement, and channel growth. Unbox Social offers a 14-day free trial and then the pricing starts from $9/month. 

The pros of Unbox Social include its comprehensive social media analytics across multiple platforms - this tool monitors activity from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and of course, YouTube. It also has a user-friendly interface and customizable reports. However, as it is not exclusively focused on YouTube, some users may find it lacking in certain YouTube-specific features compared to dedicated YouTube analytics tools.

10. ChannelMeter

ChannelMeter is a social media analytics platform that offers insights into various platforms, including YouTube. It is specifically designed for content creators and marketers. It provides analytics on video performance, audience engagement, and channel growth. It even features detailed analytics about monetization opportunities. The platform offers customizable dashboards, competitor analysis, content recommendations, and scheduling features. ChannelMeter’s basic functionalities are free of charge and the pricing is tailored to the specific needs of each user. 

The pros of ChannelMeter include its multi-platform analytics, advanced reporting capabilities, and the ability to track and analyze YouTube alongside other social media channels. However, the pricing may be higher compared to dedicated YouTube analytics tools.

11. Quintly

Quintly is a social media analytics tool that provides insights and benchmarking across various social platforms, including YouTube. So, users can also monitor and analyze other social media channels, including Facebook, Linkedin, and TikTok. It offers features such as audience analysis, content performance tracking, competitive intelligence, and customizable reporting. Quintly's pricing plans start at $410/month and is based on two factors - the number of social media profiles users wish to analyze and and number of users on the platform. 

The pros of Quintly include its comprehensive cross-platform analytics, detailed performance benchmarks, and customizable dashboards. However, its higher pricing may make it more suitable for larger brands or agencies - especially if you are only looking to monitor a single social channel.

12. Vidooly

Vidooly is a social video analytics tool that includes YouTube analytics as part of its offering. It provides data on video performance, audience engagement, and content optimization. Vidooly offers two features that help it stand out from some of its competitors - keyword analysis and best time to upload. 

Its keyword analysis feature helps users gain a comprehensive list of suggested keywords that relate to their content. Each keyword is accompanied by extra information including monthly search volume and competitors. This can easily help YouTubers with their SEO strategy. 

The best time to upload tool helps content creators optimize their content for maximum viewership. With the help of data, the platform determines when is the best time to publish the content. 

The platform offers customized pricing based on specific requirements. The pros of Vidooly include its comprehensive video analytics, competitor tracking, and content optimization recommendations. However, its pricing structure may not be as transparent as some other tools, requiring users to request a personalized quote.

Monitoring, measuring, analyzing and tracking your channels analytics is crucial if you want to upkeep a successful YouTube channel. Thankfully, there are a number of different YouTube analytics tools to choose from - the key is finding the one that works for you. Let us know if you’d like to give ThoughtLeaders’ free plan a try - it’s free, so why not? 

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