Retention Metrics That Matter

Views are vanity. Retention is reality.

A video with 100K views and 20% retention is worse than one with 10K views and 60% retention. Why? Because the algorithm rewards watch time, not clicks.

Here's what to track:

• **Average View Duration (AVD):** The single best proxy for content quality
• **Audience Retention Graph:** Where do people drop off? Fix those beats.
• **Click-Through Rate (CTR):** Thumbnail + title performance
• **Rewatch Rate:** Are people coming back? That's a signal of value.

Optimize for time, not eyeballs. The rest will follow.