Why is it necessary that you reach 4,000 YouTube watchtime hours?
Many people who are not familiar with YouTube terms are not aware why 4000 watchtime hours matter. They keep hearing this term “4000 YouTube watchtime hours” being mentioned everywhere but they do not know its significance. The answer is that, YouTube terms state that if you want to get your channel monetized, you have to get 4000 hours of viewers watchtime on your videos in the past one year.
If you do not get 4000 hours of viewership in the previous 12 months, YouTube will not monetize your channel. Which means that your channel will not be eligible for monetization. Which means you will not be able to make money with your YouTube channel.
In addition to the 4000 watch time hours, your channel must also get a minimum of 1000 subscribers within the last 12 months for you to qualify for monetization. Failure to that your channel will not be eligible for monetization.
So now that 4000 watch time hours are super important, how do you get them?
I will not make this article very long for you and bore you with a lot of stories so i will jump right into what you need to do to reach 4,000 watch time hours and monetize your YouTube channel.
1. Make High Quality Engaging content.
This goes without saying. There is no way you can expect to grow your YouTube channel if you are not making great content. People wont come to your channel nor subscribe if you do not make engaging content.
Focus on your niche so that you do not end up spreading yourself too thin. Focusing on a specific niche is guaranteed to attract audience that love that niche. For example, video gaming videos will attract those who love video games. If you make all kinds of content, then no one will stick around.
Make value driven videos. Make sure that you add value to your viewers. Let them be entertained so that they subscribe.
2. Plan content strategy.
Making it on YouTube is not for the amateurs messing around. Its a career like any other. Hence take it with the seriousness it deserves. This involves making content guided by a strategy.
Create content series as a strategy to catch attention of people and make them keep chasing more similar videos. If it is a cat video, then make more so that the viewers move from one cat video to the next and end up subscribing.
Use evergreen topics that never go out of fashion. We all know that there are those topics that people will forever talk about. Target those so that as you solve their desire for information, you get the views.
Leverage trending topics as a content strategy to take advantage of current clout. If you can be able to get your video picked up by the algorithms for the current trending topic, that alone can bring you millions of views.
3. Optimize your videos for SEO.
Many people search YouTube for videos. If your video is optimized well for the keywords that people are searching, then you can be sure they will see your video. If you can manage to dominate the search results of YouTube, you can really get so many views.
To optimize your videos for SEO, you can focus on first of all finding the best keywords for your content. Then optimize your video’s titles, descriptions and tags with the keywords.
Also make sure that your thumbnails are well optimized for maximum click probability.
4. Engage with your audience.
This might sound trivial but believe me, engaging with your audience can really boost your channel. The reason is that, engaging with the audience creates a community. They feel as a part of your channel. They feel as a part of your online community.
This makes them come back for more. Also when they have questions or matters of concern, they will come to your channel to get answers or to discuss.
In addition to that, engaging with your audience, generates engagement which is a very strong signal for YouTube algorithms.
So make sure that you respond to those comments on your videos.
5. Share your videos on other platforms.
If you have other social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X, make sure that you share your YouTube video links across these platforms. This sharing will make sure that it bridges all your audience from all your social media accounts. This will increase the number of people flowing in to see your videos. This is also a good signal to the YouTube algorithms.
6. Maintain a consistency in your upload schedule.
Discipline goes a long way in making sure that you get the 4000 YouTube watchtime hours. Do not just post YouTube videos when you feel like and abandon your channel when you feel like. Make a regular routine of posting to keep your channel warm and active. Do not let the algorithms sleep on your channel. If you stay for long without posting, YouTube algorithms could mark your channel as dormant and forget it. Thus keep it active.
Also regular posting keeps your audience with something to watch. Something to come back next time for. So do not let them down and end up by loosing them by being lazy.
7. Create Playlists for your videos.
Imagine being able to keep a person watching your videos for 5 or even 10 videos? This can be accomplished by creating a YouTube playlist for your content. This means that when the person clicks on the playlist and starts watching, he/she will keep watching next video and next video. Such can rank up to a lot of views and hence a lot of watch time hours.
You can popular include content from other creators on YouTube to make sure that the playlist is as entertaining as it can be.
8. Do not forget the YouTube shorts.
Many YouTubers don’t believe that YouTube shorts can help them get more watch time hours since they are short. They think; how can a 45 seconds video help me get hours of viewership. But what they do not understand is that, its not about the 45 seconds but about the millions of plays. You could have a long video that gets only 100 views. Or have a 45 seconds short that gets 100,000 views. Which one do you think will bring the most watch time hours?
Make the YouTube shorts and post on your channel for those who love shorts to also have something to watch from your channel.
9. Invest in a good camera and a good microphone.
Nobody wants to come to your YouTube channel to watch low quality videos. Nobody wants videos with poor audio. Quality experience for the audience is also important. Hence get a good camera that can record HD videos and High quality audio. Give your audience that top notch experience.
10. Make good use of Call-to-Actions (CTAs).
Keep more of your viewers around even after they finish watching your videos by using the CTAs that YouTube provides. By making good use of the call-to-actions, you can get the same person to watch more and more of your videos. Just when they are about to finish watching this video, you suggest the next one for them. Hence you get the most watch time from the same viewer.