Looking to actualize your stream as a content creator as monetize your YouTube page? You have to hit the 4000 watch time milestone, no two ways about this. YouTube monetization starts when you get 4000 watch hours and 1000 subscribers.
Joining the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is an important milestone for creators as this is when they start getting paid from YouTube ad revenue. But aside from this payment, the 4000 hours of watch time milestone helps creators get going. Like a spring to show progress and ready to explode.
But how do you get this? Getting 4000 hours watch time has taken many creators years, a lot of effort and toiling to get there. However, with a little guidance, you can skip the struggle and reach this target even faster.
Don’t worry, we’ll show you how you can get 4000 hours of watch time with minimal effort and in the shortest possible time. You’ll also see common mistakes to avoid and how Your Video Editor can help you reach this milestone.
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Understanding YouTube Watch Hours And Why It Matters
Wonder what YouTube watch time is all about? It is simply the total amount of time viewers spend watching a specific video or videos in a channel.
Watch time is usually calculated over the last 365 days and covers only public videos. Private, unlisted, and deleted videos don’t count. Even Shorts videos are not registered towards the watch time requirement for YPP.
Tracking your YouTube watch time is straightforward through YouTube Studio so you won’t have to waste time with manual calculation.
4000 hours is a whopping 240,000 minutes and so poses quite a challenge for many creators, but it is achievable with these tips.
Proven Strategies to Generate 4000 Hour Watch Time
Here are the tried and proven strategies that we’ve used and observed to be working. These techniques helps both new and older channels to reach the 4000 hours watch time as quickly as possible:
1. Create Evergreen Content
When you create content that is not just tied to specific events that fizzle out after a few weeks, but videos that are fresh no matter when you watch it, you’ve hacked consistent views. Your focus should be on timeless topics like how-tos and reviews.
- Start by creating a content plan using tools like Built-in YouTube search, Google Keyword Planner, AnswerThePublic and Google Trends to research competitors, top keywords and searches in your niche.
- Have more reviews, tutorials, beginner tips, universal concepts and how-to videos that are not bound to a specific trend right now
- Create high quality engaging content while ensuring editing is tight and captivating. Get help from professional editing services like Your Video Editor if possible.
2. Optimize Video Length
For starters, Shorts views do not count towards the 4000 hours watch time requirement. When it comes to longer form YouTube content, the right optimization is required. Target 10-15 minutes length. The key is making it detailed enough but not too long that you lose retention. This is where tight editing from professionals like Your Video Editor becomes vital.
- Understand YouTube’s algorithm: YouTube prioritizes watch time and audience retention or how long viewers stay on your video, a longer video only counts if it can maintain viewers attention.
- Analyze audience and niche: Still on the audience retention report on YouTube Studio, analyze the trend and see where viewers typically drop off. You can use this to inform how long your videos should be.
- Typical video length: While the sweet spot for most videos is 8-15 minutes, some videos can be 4-8 minutes long while documentaries and in-depth tutorials can go beyond the 20 minutes mark.
3. Leverage Playlist
If you want to reach the 4000 hours watch time in record time, you should take advantage of the power of playlists. Get similar videos and organize them into playlists that make binge watching easy. Now sit back as the YouTube algorithm recommends the next video in the play list. Don’t forget to add links to playlists at end screens.
- Visit your channel and click on Content at the left hand side of the screen
- Switch to Playlist from the options to reveal the “New Playlist” icon.
- Tap New Playlist and fill in the details for your new playlist including title, description and the videos on it.
4. Improve SEO
SEO is just as important for written content as well as video content and you can leverage this to get viewers from search engines and even ranking on YouTube’s search. Tools like TubeBuddy and Google Trends will help you optimize titles, tags, and descriptions while pairing with the right thumbnails.
- Start with keyword research: Use tools to help with the research.
- Optimize video titles: This is one of the first details your audience sees so make it memorable. Naturally include the primary keywords into the title so the algorithm can send it to the right audience. Keep the video title under 60 characters.
- Write detailed descriptions: Make it well detailed and include keywords naturally in the content. It may be tempting to stuff keywords here, but this can be counterproductive.
- Use effective tags: Include 5-8 relevant tags to your videos to help it reach the right audience and meet your 4000 hours watch time target fast. tools like TubeBuddy can help you find related tags to use.
- Utilize the right thumbnails: Thumbnails should be captivating and in-line with the content. But there’s also a fine line between being fascinating and click-baity, so thread carefully.
5. Post Consistently
You can’t post inconsistently and expect to hit your target quickly. Consistent upload say 2-4 a week depending on your niche is vital. You should outsource editing to professionals like Your Video Editor so you can focus on creating content that gets views.
- Set a realistic posting schedule: Are you just starting out? Avoid overcommitting and grow steadily. Once a week is good enough, you can increase this as you grow and test different strategies. Choose a specific time and day too.
- Plan content: Use Trello, Notion or Google Sheets to plan the content months ahead. With details like title, tags, keywords, and posting dates all included to simplify the process.
- Streamline your workflow: Use scripts to make your videos, invest in basic equipment and utilize user-friendly editing apps like Adobe Premiere Pro or outsource to professionals like Your Video Editor.
- Optimize for efficiency: Simplify production to improve speed and efficiency. You should also repurpose content for different platforms including video and written content.
6. Engage With Hooks
When it comes to YouTube videos, the 10 seconds rule holds. You have 10-seconds to capture attention so you have to do it right. A professional editing service can do this for you, using the right hook that ensures audience retention remains high even beyond the 10 seconds mark.
- Start by understanding the purpose of the hook: It must address why the viewers should care and what they’ll gain by watching.
- Types of effective hooks to use: Some of the most effective hooks to use in your videos include where you express shock or surprise, promise value, ask a question, tell a story, and tease the outcome.
- Craft the hook: When crafting an effective hook, be specific and keep it short. Remember you have only 5-15 seconds to capture attention. Make sure the hook matches the thumbnails and title and is energetic.
Mistakes To Avoid
Sometimes all it takes to ruin your chances of quickly hitting the 4000 hour watch time milestone is a little mistake. Which is why we’ve put together this list of common mistakes to avoid if you want to reach this target in the shortest possible time and join YPP.
- Avoid poor editing including bad audio and blurry or shaky videos.
- Do not try to trick the system with excessive self viewing or using bots as YouTube can pick this up.
- Don’t rely on Shorts for YPP watch hours, they do not count.
- Steer clear of inconsistent video upload as this disrupts audience habits.
How To Leverage The Help of Video Editor
You can easily get that 4000 hours watch time and get monetized quickly when you utilize the help of professional video editors. Not just any professional editor but Your Video Editor. Instead of struggling alone, wasting your time, and making costly mistakes, leave it all to Your Video Editor and focus on creating content.
Your Video Editor already has the expertise helping similar channels hit these targets and join YPP. It doesn’t stop at 4000 hours as they can help you break new milestones and grow your brand.
If you want to get 4000 hours of watch time and 1000 subscribers so you can join YPP and monetize your channel, you can either use a combination of strategies like optimizing content length, creating evergreen content, and leverage playlist.
Or you can leave everything in the hands of Your Video Editor who are experts in video editing and channel growth.
