---
title: '3 Ridiculously Useful YouTube Analytics (Small Channels, Pay Attention!)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=7n9hBmA-oCY'
video_id: '7n9hBmA-oCY'
date: 2026-06-14
duration_sec: 517
---

# 3 Ridiculously Useful YouTube Analytics (Small Channels, Pay Attention!)

> Source: [3 Ridiculously Useful YouTube Analytics (Small Channels, Pay Attention!)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=7n9hBmA-oCY)

## Summary

This video reveals three YouTube analytics that are useful even for brand new channels, focusing on suggested video traffic, the most replayed graph, and the audience tab. The presenter demonstrates with a client's channel that started days ago, showing how to interpret these metrics to align content with the algorithm and audience.

### Key Points

- **Suggested Video Traffic for New Channels** [0:04] — Even a channel with 129 views, 10 subscribers, and 2.6 hours of watch time can use suggested video traffic to see if the algorithm correctly classifies the channel. 50% of traffic came from suggested videos.
- **Validating Niche Targeting** [1:05] — The presenter and client independently audited their niche and created competitor lists. The suggested videos list showed that at least 90% of the videos suggesting their content were from those targeted channels, confirming correct targeting.
- **Action: If Suggested Videos Don't Match** [3:35] — If less than 70% of suggested videos match your target audience, make your content more obvious by aligning words, title, thumbnail, and first line of description with the intended audience.
- **Most Replayed Graph** [4:22] — The most replayed graph shows which parts of a video are rewatched most. Useful for analyzing competitor videos to understand what engages their audience, even without a channel.
- **Interpreting High and Low Points** [5:12] — High points often come from chapters, skipping sponsored segments, visuals, jokes, or big reveals. A flat graph indicates continuous viewing and good retention.
- **Returning vs New Viewers Graph** [6:32] — Low returning viewers means people aren't coming back; invite them to watch more. Low new viewers means channel isn't growing; try new ideas and improve video quality.

### Conclusion

By using suggested video traffic, the most replayed graph, and the audience tab, small channels can gain early insights into algorithm classification, audience engagement, and growth opportunities.

## Transcript

this video is different because these
are analytics that you can use even if
your channel is literally Brand New by
showing you what I'm doing with a
channel that started days ago howdy
howdy everyone Nate here the First
YouTube analytic we're going to be
looking at here is your suggested video
traffic and I'm going to be showing you
with a client's channel that just
started days ago here's why we're going
to be using suggested videos because it
gives you an early indicator of whether
your channel is being classified
correctly by the algorithm and we can do
that even with a channel like this that
has 129 views uh 10 subscribers and 2.6
hours of watch time so what you're going
to do is Click analytics then click
content up here at the top and you're
going to scroll down to this box how
viewers find your videos and we're going
to click suggested videos now what this
shows is as of right now on this channel
about 50% of all the total traffic on
the channel is coming from these
suggested videos YouTube is suggesting
these videos from this channel to other
viewers of other channels videos and I'm
going to show you why this is so
significant by sharing a crazy story
here you see with Chris who owns this
channel we each independently did a form
of auditing our Niche auditing the niche
that we're trying to Target with this
Channel and if you want to know how to
do that on your own channel I made a
video about it I'm going to put up here
for you to watch after this we each came
up with a list of competitors or
channels that had the audience we wanted
to capture with this channel now there
was overlap between the two lists that
we created which was already cool to see
but then when we came to the suggested
videos on this channel brand new channel
look at what we found if you go down
here and you click see more you're going
to pull up this which gives you a list
of all of the videos suggesting your
videos so stepping back here why this is
so significant these videos each of the
videos on this list are a video that
already existed on YouTube that the
algorithm has seen and said this new
channel this channel we're looking at
right now has a video and we think that
it might be similar to the videos on
this other already existing Channel it
might be similar enough to suggest it in
the sidebar if they're watching on
desktop or below the video if they
scroll down on mobile so here you can
see the total Impressions given to these
similar videos as well as the
clickthrough rate and the actual amount
of views garnered from these videos that
already exist on YouTube here is why
this is so valuable to me those lists
you remember those lists that Chris and
I came up with that we were targeting
these audiences on YouTube then number
of videos here that were from those
channels was mindblowing meaning we had
intentionally targeted these areas with
the content the metadata and the topics
the titles and thumbnails of videos that
we produced to match these already
existing audiences so we could quickly
show the YouTube algorithm this is our
audience on YouTube this this is the
audience we're trying to Target because
we're trying to help them out and what
the suggested list is showing us or
showing you even if you have a very
small channel is how clear clearly the
algorithm is classifying your content
and as I scroll through this list of
suggested videos that the YouTube
algorithm is serving this Channel's
content to at least 90% of them are
exactly on point let me put it this way
if you have a larger Channel with a more
significant volume of views on your
channel YouTube adds some very important
and interesting boxes to your analytics
one being other videos your audience is
watching most recently and two being
other channels your audience is watching
small YouTube channels unfortunately
don't have access to those until they
get a critical mass of viewership but
what they do have what you do have is
this so let's get into some actions here
as you're looking at this on your own
channel here's what to do if you look at
these suggested videos and at least 70%
of them are not matching the type of
audience you're trying to gather on your
channel you need to make it more obvious
with your video content and one of the
best ways I have found to do that is
during the entire production of your
video think of it in terms of this what
is the audience I'm trying to match with
my video and let me make sure I make it
abundantly clear in the words I speak in
my video as well as the title and
thumbnail especially and the first line
of the description this is what this
video is about make it super super clear
to make sure your video as you're
targeting the metadata or the content of
the video itself does match the audience
you want all right it's time to move on
to the next analytic here first if
you're enjoying this video it's being
helpful or eye opening to you boop the
like button on it thank you for doing
that the next YouTube analytic we're
going to be looking at here especially
for new YouTubers or smaller channels is
the most replayed graph I'm going to
pull up one of my older videos to show
you this if you hover over a video and
you see the gray Hills and Valleys part
below the video now why is this so
useful especially for smaller YouTube
channels it's because you can do it even
if you don't have a YouTube channel you
see what you're going to do is after
you've audited your Niche and understood
your Niche better shout out to the video
you should watch after this all about
that but once you've identified these
channels is you can then go to their
videos and see which parts the audience
is liking the most this right here
literally shows which which parts of the
video the audience that watch this video
of all the thousands of views that
watched it which parts were watched the
most you can also use this on your own
videos as you get more viewership but
the main thing we're looking for here is
the high points especially on this
viewership I'm going to talk about what
to do with those high points here in a
moment but first I wanted to address the
opposite I have watched a lot of videos
that seem to have a pretty low Point
throughout most of the video in fact I
was trying to find an example so I could
show you here but many of these videos
have pretty low for the entirety of the
video now what does that mean does that
mean that most people don't like the
video I actually do not think that it
does a more flattened out Hills and
Valleys on this indicator more means
that people are choosing to watch for
continuous segments of the video they're
not jumping around as much which if
you're following me means that that
creator for the amount of views that
they have is retaining audience really
well but for the high points these are
some of the hints the reasons why you
see big spikes in videos first first if
there's chapters in the videos people
tend to jump from chapter to chapter
that might cause those high points two
if it's after a sponsored segment of the
video a lot of people skip ahead on
sponsored segments three if a visual is
being shown in the video people are more
likely to as they are scrubbing through
the video say oh there was something
something happened right there I'm going
to jump to that section four a joke was
shared that people need to go back and
watch again and five a peak moment or a
big reveal happening in the video all
right now we're on the bonus round I
debated including this in here but I'm
going to do it because it's just so dang
helpful what we're looking at is your
audience tab up here go ahead and click
audience this graph returning viewers
versus new viewers you've got to
understand this graph because it gives
you indicators of what to do next with
your content if your returning viewers
is consistently low it means people
aren't choosing to come back to your
channel so what do you do about that you
invite them to watch other videos on
your channel and you give them clear
reasons to watch the next video and if
you want a meta example of that well
what have I done earlier on in this
video go back and rewatch and see if you
can catch what I did but also what you
want to do here and not many people talk
about this is you want to make sure you
have a feeling of Welcome in your videos
that when people arrive to your videos
they can understand quickly what they're
about and feel like they're in the right
place and if it would be valuable to you
to have a whole video about what I just
said please do let me know all right now
if your new viewers is consistently low
or lower than your returning viewers
what that means is your channel isn't
growing I say that partially in just but
the reality is a YouTube channel that is
not acquiring new viewership is on a
steady decline so what you need to do if
you're seeing a consistently low amount
of new viewership is you have to Branch
out and start trying new ideas the
number of new viewers that are arriving
and using the YouTube platform
consistently goes up I'm not even
talking about new creators that are
trying to build or create or share
content I'm talking about viewership
just people watching YouTube that number
is always going up and attention is
always moving from one location to
another on YouTube so a channel that is
not a acquiring new viewership is
stagnating because of that okay so if
that's happening to you first try new
ideas try some fresh ideas to get new
audience in second improve the quality
of your videos if your videos aren't
showing good watch time or watch
percentage then that means that they
probably aren't as enjoyable as your
competitors so now I'm going to say it
everyone if you want to know the process
that Chris and I went through to get
these early wins of the suggested
traffic to that channel you're going to
want to watch this video
next
and hey don't forget to check out this
video