I wanted to really target the core problem of YouTube, which is to figure out the best time to post on YouTube. I went to the roots to find the solutions and also included some of the ways you can implement them for your channel.
After reviewing a couple hundred top YouTube channels across the globe, watching thousands of videos, and drinking infinite cups of coffee, I came up with the best times to post on YouTube to get the maximum reach for your content.
Besides, I have also added case studies I found during my research, sharing what people are talking about and other helpful insights.
Note: The best time to post on YouTube varies for everyone. Remember, despite posting at the right time, it doesn’t guarantee that your video will get better engagement. Instead, I recommend experimenting with your channel and understanding your audience.
Best Time To Post On YouTube in 2024
The best time to post on YouTube is between — 2 PM and 4 PM (EST), and the best day to post a video is on Sunday.
On a larger note, the best days to post a video on YouTube are during the weekends, as this is the time when the majority of the audience is not distracted with their daily jobs, and schools/ colleges are also shut.
Note: All the timings are in EST
This is the perfect time to post a video as a user can spare some time watching videos for entertainment and give unrestricted attention.
YouTube’s algorithm works differently than other social media platforms, and the posting time also depends on the way that the audience behaves on a video, the location of the viewers, and their content preferences.
But, pertaining to our extensive research, we found these general times to be the best for posting a video.
Note: These are just generic guidelines that you can follow and will not be 100% working.
Interesting Read: Looking to find out more about successful YouTube creators. We have published super in-depth stats on YouTube creators.
Best Time to Post YouTube Shorts
According to Social Pilot, the research from analyzing over 50,000 YouTube channels showed that the best time to post YouTube Shorts is during peak hours — 12 PM to 3 PM and 7 PM to 10 PM.
Generally, avoid trying to post during peak working hours since people might not be actively on YouTube scrolling. This way, your video will also end up having less reach. Instead, based on the location of your target audience,
For example, if you are targeting India, the best time to post YouTube Shorts in India would be around 5 PM to 8 PM.
Remember, the ideal posting time is different for everyone. Despite posting at the time suggested online, make sure to experiment with your own channel to figure out when your audience is most active.
What is The Worst Time to Post on YouTube?
The worst possible time to post on YouTube is the opposite of the above situation. Any time outside the general active hours of the audience should be avoided.
For example, you cannot get the same amount of views during the early hours on a Monday as you would get during the peak hours of the weekends. Hence, you should strictly avoid posting videos on a weekday and during working hours.
The only exception is if your target audience and the type of content you put is relevant for working professionals, educators, students, etc. (more on the factors affecting the best time to post further in the article)
YouTube creators make $4,616/mo and $1,154/week, and not adhering to the correct timings can affect these earnings big time!
Why Are The Ideal Posting Times for YouTube Different?
As I mentioned earlier, the ideal times to post content on YouTube are different from other social media platforms due to the type and length of the content that goes on YouTube.
For example, the best time to post on TikTok is 9 AM. (EST) on Tuesdays, 12 AM. (EST) on Thursdays and (5 AM) EST on Fridays! If you notice, the times are completely off and are even in the wee hours of the day. That is because of the type of content that TikTok has and the ways in which the audiences interact with it.
We at DemandSage are quite the nerds and have found the best times to post on Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit in our other research. Have a look at the below resources that can help you.
Boost your social media posting game by finding the right time:
How to Find The Best Time to Post on YouTube For Your Channel?
Steering our attention towards finding the best time to boost your channel’s performance, you can conduct a self-analysis of how your websites have performed in the past.
Find out which video you posted has the highest engagement and the highest number of views. Work around your way to find more such top-performing videos and try to establish a pattern that has worked for you.
You can do this by using YouTube’s analytics tool from the “YouTube Creator Studio” each channel can access. This tool lets you get deeper insights into the audience’s response to your content.
From this tool, you can learn more about your channel’s engagement:
- Monitor the views
- Watch time
- Subscribers
- Impressions
- Click through rates
- Source of the traffic
- Find the location, city, age, gender, and even device type
YouTube shows all of this data graphically in a line or bar format that is easy to read and filter. Learn how to use YouTube analytics by following this official Google guide.
This video from Think Media can help you analyze your metrics effectively.
Does Posting Time Affect Your YouTube Video Performance?
From our research on YouTube and its statistics, we know that a typical user spends around 20 minutes and 23 seconds on YouTube. Hence, capturing the user’s attention at the right time becomes highly critical.
The very reason you are here is because, yes, the time you post on YouTube affects the performance of the video. For example, you cannot post a video on “how to decorate a Christmas tree during the month of March” (duh!)
Just as Google has an algorithm that rates any type of content as good or bad, YouTube has another kind of algorithm and has a different way of optimizing — called “YouTube SEO.”
Any video that performs well during the first few hours of posting sends positive signals to the platform.
In simple terms, this helps Google believe that the content you are posting is useful and relatable to the audience and promotes it further to other potential viewers.
Case Studies: What Are Others Saying About The Best Time For Youtube?
I have invested a lot of time, research, and experience in this article to generate a truly helpful guide that actually works. Yet, other reliable resources can offer you something that we can’t.
The approach we took, the channels we studied, and the outcomes we got probably differ from these sources. Have a look at their research and get to know their findings:
1. Influencer Marketing Hub
First, I will start with Influencer Marketing Hub; they are a highly revered source that does their research thoroughly. Based on the Frederator Networks study that they posted, the best time to publish on YouTube is on Friday—6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM, and 9 PM, Saturday—3 PM, 4 PM, 5 PM, and 6 PM, and Sunday—12 PM, 1 PM, 2 PM, and 3 PM.
2. HubSpot
HubSpot conducted a market survey and asked 1200+ marketers to find that the best time to post on YouTube is between 6 PM – 9 PM and 3 PM — 6 PM on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
3. Social Pilot
Another case I studied was from Social Pilot. Their analysis of over 50,000 YouTube accounts came to the conclusion that the best time to post on YouTube is on a Sunday between — 2 PM and 4 PM.
4. Quora
To take the public opinion, I headed towards Quora to find what really works for the people and their take on it. The general consensus I could derive from many comments and posts is that the best time to post on YouTube is in the evenings on Weekdays and 12 PM — 9 PM on weekends.
Other Factors Affecting a YouTube Video’s Timing
Now, other factors affect the posting time or performance of a YouTube video loosely related to YouTube itself or any features or metrics. It has more to do with the market, i.e., your audience and the way they interact with your channel and content type.
What are the other factors that can affect your YouTube post time?
1. Your niche
The niche that you are in is the most relevant factor that would decide the best time for you to post on YouTube. If you run an educational channel that targets students, the posting time would be different than what an entertainment channel would choose.
2. Audience behavior and location
YouTube has more than 2.70 billion active users from different parts of the world, and each of them might react to a video differently. The cultural values, the languages they speak, and the emotional values they hold related to certain things can also vastly affect the performance of your video.
Note: PewDiePie’s T-series diss track is his highly viewed video, but on the other hand, it is banned in India.
The location of your audience highly affects the reach of your YouTube video in that region. Suppose you have figured out the ideal time to post “How to solve a permutation and combination problem.”
You might reach the audience in one region, but you might miss out on a country in a different time zone since the audience there has a good night’s sleep.
3. Time of the year
Another important factor to consider is the time of year. There are festivals that happen all year round, and if your channel and content type are related to them, then this is an important factor.
Days of holidays are also some other days that a user is free and can give a boost to your engagement metrics.
4. Analyzing your competition
I believe one of the most common ways to do something better is to learn from the best and imitate. That’s one of the ways to approach learning something, and we all have done this at least once.
Similarly, to see your website perform, you can imitate your closest competitors by checking their time schedules.
This can help you both ways. First, you can determine the best times to post by judging their performance. The second thing that you’ll get from this is when “NOT” posts.
Trust me, examining the competition’s performance is one of the best ways to determine the best time for your videos.
5. Consistency
When you have cracked the code to post your videos, the next important thing you should do is stay consistent with your posts. This helps the audience form a time for your posts and creates a sense of anticipation in their minds for that day and that hour.
One last factor that can affect your video’s performance is the YouTube algorithm and regulations. Though this one’s not entirely under control, this can happen, and you should be aware of it.
Conclusion: Best Time To Post On YouTube (2024)
The bottom line is that many YouTube users carefully study and review the above-mentioned timings; regardless of whether you are a beginner or an expert, you ought to follow these timelines and not miss them.
To wrap up my article, the best time to post on YouTube is between 2 PM and 4 PM on Sunday.
If you are a new YouTube user, you are bound to be overwhelmed by the “what to do” and “what not to do” from a dozen experts out there.
I was in the same phase when I was A/B testing for a channel at my other venture. But let me tell you, if you stay consistent and driven toward creating good content and posting it on time, you will surely make it through.
Keep experimenting. Don’t let your alarm clock snooze!
FAQs
You can upload your content on your YouTube channel on Sunday, as most of the audience scrolls through YouTube between 8 AM and 11 AM or after 5 PM in the evening.
Yes, The views you get on your video within the first few hours impact the performance of your Channel. Hence, the time you post on YouTube will matter and affect the growth of your channel. If you post within the required period, you can generate traffic and boost the performance of your channel.
It is better to post on YouTube at 5 PM in the evening. The best day to post is Sunday morning between 8 to 11 AM and in the evening after 5 PM.
YouTube’s algorithm recommends videos to users according to their interests and preferences. The algorithm mainly works on the feedback loop in real-time. Every time you watch a video, the feedback system records the category and type.
