Measure
Audience retention
You might say: retention graph, drop-off, watch curve
A graph of the share of viewers still watching at each moment. YouTube names four shapes: flat parts, gradual declines, spikes (rewatching or sharing) and dips (skipping or leaving). The lines here are sketches of those shapes, not benchmarks.
- What it does
- Points to the exact second a problem starts.
- Ask
- Where is the steepest drop, and what is on screen there?
- Trouble
- A cliff at the start (hook), a dip in the middle (a dull section) or an early fall before the end screen.
What to look for
- A line showing viewers still watching by moment
- Flat parts, gradual declines, spikes and dips
- A steep drop with its exact second
Catalogue: Shape
- Flat: Viewers watched this part from start to finish.
- Intro drop: Many leave in the first seconds: the opening does not match the title and thumbnail. YouTube compares the share left at 30 seconds.
- Gradual decline: Viewers lose interest over time: no open question pulls them on.
- Spike: Viewers rewatched or shared this moment, or found it unclear and played it again.
- Dip: Viewers skipped this part or stopped watching.
Sources
- YouTube Blog, Stop guessing, start growing: Master these 4 metrics, Viewer Retention graph
This metric shows you at what points viewers are watching (and dropping off) from your video. You'll see a graph illustrating the percentage of your audience still watching at each moment of your video.
- YouTube Blog, Your Video Second-by-Second, Hot Spots graph
The Hot Spots tab in Insight plays your video alongside a graph that shows the ups-and-downs of viewership at different moments within the video.
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Audience retention" (retention-curve) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/content-creation/ against my project
Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.
An AI agent wrote this map with the teardown skill. It can contain errors: check the sources before you rely on a part. About and legal