Why Retention is a completely useless metric.

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George Blackman・

about 2 years ago

1856 views

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17 min⚡️21 min17 min14 min11 min10 min8 min 32 sec6 min 50 sec

1.2×

17 min⚡️21 min17 min14 min11 min10 min8 min 32 sec6 min 50 sec

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34 Comments

Darwynn Mcpherson

Dec 8, 2023

Excellent perspective and it makes sense to me now. I recently did a video reviewing Ed Lawrence’s Script Writing video and it helped me get to 79.6% APV and now I realize I shouldn’t be so amazed by that result since only 45 people watched it. I imagine it would be much lower 45K people watched it.

Anonymous

Mar 12, 2023

Enjoyed this, George, and fascinated to learn how many things can affect people's retention figures. I would imagine this will benefit lots of people.

George Blackman

Mar 14, 2023

Thanks so much, I hope so!

Thom Gibson

Mar 15, 2023

I'll say, I'm surprised I'm watching this video; had this been a YT video you linked, I don't know if I would have clicked on it. But the fact that it was just a video for the newsletter piqued my curiosity more. And here I am, minutes into it. Good work!

George Blackman

Aug 30, 2023

😍

Basha Basha

Sept 26, 2023

Which tool can give me a Which tool can give me retention graph for any video of YouTubeWhich?

Yusuf Fareed

Jan 1, 2024

Banger video mate. Really fascinating where you breakdown WHY A+B+C=D.

Neil

Aug 30, 2023

Watching this in between shooting B- roll. 🤣 Really enjoyed this. There is hope for us small channels.

George Blackman

Aug 30, 2023

Haha thanks man, hope the B-Roll looks fabulous!!

Lisa Kostova

Apr 1, 2024

My take-away from this is that when I embed Youtube videos on my blog, I should NOT make them autoplay. Would there be a reason you would ever want to enable auto-play in this scenario?

Himanshu Agrawal

Mar 11, 2023

Keep making these videos mate

George Blackman

Mar 12, 2023

Thank you mate, will do!

Joshua Mitchell

Mar 11, 2023

George, this was awesome! I love this format. I LOVE the case studies (retention is low but it's good, retention is high but it's bad). Didn't come across as rambly at all to me.

George Blackman

Mar 11, 2023

Hey Joshua, thanks mate! Glad you enjoyed :)

Anonymous

Mar 12, 2023

Hello Georges. I'm in your newsletter since recently, but i just want to tell you that i love this video format. It's excellent !

George Blackman

Mar 14, 2023

That's great news, thanks a lottt!!

Efficient App (Alex + Andra)

July 24, 2024

This was fantastic! The OSRS playlist series example was so interesting and a prime example that shows how building a true fanbase/audience improves the retention graph. But how if YouTube isn't pushing your video outside of that audience a bit (e.g. Ali's video) then it'll never see those numbers/metrics. Gave a lot to think about here, great video!

John Maciel

Mar 13, 2023

This video breakdown was soooo incredibly helpful. Thanks for taking time to do this and this perspective is really helpful looking at retention on my own channel now. Thanks George!

Katie Emery

Nov 27, 2023

Thank you, George! This was really helpful.

Alexander Dear

Aug 30, 2023

Thanks George

George Blackman

Aug 30, 2023

😍

Dewi Jones

June 18, 2023

Thank you. In my experience the retention graph for a long form video takes a beating after a viral Short

George Blackman

Aug 30, 2023

True!

Jake Denham

July 7, 2023

100% retention on this video from me! Thanks George!

George Blackman

July 18, 2023

Appreciate it Jake!!

Anonymous

Mar 11, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

George Blackman

Mar 12, 2023

Of course, thanks for watching!

VaazkL

Mar 11, 2023

Thank you for the insight

George Blackman

Mar 12, 2023

No problem at all, thanks for watching!

Neil

Aug 30, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

George Blackman

Aug 30, 2023

😍

Kelly Patchet

Aug 30, 2023

Wouldn't you know I was trying to read the retention tea leaves this morning? Unfortunately all my graphs look like the last one in your video. But... it's a brand new channel with a whopping 31 subs. So no true fans yet and your video serves to remind that this is also context. So helpful! Thank you.

George Blackman

Aug 31, 2023

Stick with it Kelly!! Excited to see what those graphs look like in a year!

The Thinker's Bible

Sept 3, 2023

This was VERY useful and is FAR more in-depth, knowledgeable and nuanced than any of the "YouTube growth experts" I've seen have done discussing Retention Graphs. Thank you.

George Blackman

Sept 4, 2023

Thank you mate, appreciate that! I'm glad to hear you found it useful. Email me if you ever have any questions!

Anonymous

Sept 3, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏 People must surely keep asking you why you don't have your own YouTube channel? You're lovely and personable and have great insights and expertise to share.

George Blackman

Sept 4, 2023

Appreciate that! I used to have a couple of channels, but right now I'm able to learn so much by working in these pre-established teams that I've decided to focus all my energy on client work and educating creators based on what I'm learning. But someday in the future it's 100% on my radar :)

LU CAS

Oct 2, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

Roby Brown

Oct 12, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

thanh ly

Oct 23, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

Rizos Konstantinos

Nov 11, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

Gustavo Herrera

Nov 17, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

Anonymous

Nov 20, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

Anonymous

Nov 26, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

John A

Dec 4, 2023

Thank you George! 🙏

Jen Ditters

Feb 6, 2024

Thank you George! 🙏

karan singh

Feb 20, 2024

Thank you George! 🙏

Unheard Histories

Sept 1, 2023

This is really reassuring to know. The assumption has always been that I'm doing something really bad if I'm not at 80% retention after 30 seconds but knowing it's more nuanced than that gives me hope

George Blackman

Sept 4, 2023

Glad to hear it was reassuring! The title of this video is obviously a little hyperbolic, but it's supposed to really hammer home exactly that message - it's rarely as simple as saying "that's great retention" or "that's awful retention"

Anonymous

Nov 18, 2023

Thank you George! insightful analysis about Youtube retention 🙏