YouTube issued guidance to creators and marketers about the best times to upload videos for maximum reach.
For news, trends, or content with a shorter shelf life, it’s best to publish as soon as possible. However, if you’re sharing evergreen content, the platform suggests publishing it at a time that’s convenient for you.
Live videos. To maximize reach with live videos, YouTube recommends publishing when your analytics graph indicates that the majority of your audience will be available to watch.
Post after hours. YouTube Liaison Officer Rene Ritchie was mentioned in X that if you post during “off hours” such as early morning, the initial increase in views might be slower. So it’s important to adjust your expectations. However, he noted that over the course of a few weeks or a month, total views tend to level off, regardless of initial posting time.
Why we care This guide provides valuable information to easily increase your reach by posting more strategically. However, if your content isn’t time-sensitive, YouTube confirmed that you don’t have to stress about researching optimal post times—one less thing to worry about in your content strategy.
What YouTube says. YouTube product manager Todd Beaupre said in a video shared on X:
“The way we designed the algorithm, we want to offer the public videos and other content with which they are most satisfied. If the audience doesn’t care if you uploaded it at three in the morning or seven at night, the algorithm shouldn’t care either.” “What I encourage creators to do is when they have some of these questions and immediately think of algorithm, replace the word algorithm in your question with the word “audience”. That will give you a better answer because we aim to serve the audience.” “The more you focus on understanding what your audience wants and finding the best fit with them, the algorithm will match that.”
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deep dive. Read our guide to how the YouTube algorithm works to learn more.
