Despite the rise in popularity of short-form video, I was surprised to discover that YouTube sees the highest usage among social media platforms by video marketers, surpassing TikTok and Instagram.
According to HubSpot Blog research, YouTube was the most successful social media platform in 2023, growing by 79% year-over-year.
Of the marketers surveyed, 95% said YouTube has an average or high ROI and the majority will invest more in this social channel.
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With so much emphasis placed on the platform, I thought it was important to find out what times and days video publishers saw the best results so you can optimize the best time to upload YouTube videos.
Keep reading to learn what I discovered.
Table of Contents
- When is the best time to post on YouTube?
- When is the worst time to post on YouTube?
- Does it matter what time you post on YouTube?
- How to Find Your Channel's Best Time to Post
I know creating a video for YouTube isn’t an easy task. First comes ideation, then scripting, followed by filming, and finally editing — and that's just at a high level. Imagine doing all that work just to upload a video that doesn’t get much traction.
When you’re first starting out, you’re bound to struggle. However, if you’ve been at it for a while and are still not getting any traction from your videos, your upload time could be the culprit.
Use HubSpot’s AI Clip Creator to improve your YouTube video production.
We surveyed 1,500+ marketers for our Social Media Trends Report and asked them, “What’s the best time to post on YouTube?”
Here’s the breakdown:
- 24% of respondents said 6 PM to 9 PM.
- 22% of respondents said 12 PM to 3 PM.
- 20% of respondents said 3 PM to 6 PM.
Note: Respondents were instructed to answer in their current time zone.
As for the best days, data shows that Saturday is the most popular day for marketers, followed by Friday and Sunday.
I think one way to explain this is that on the weekends, consumers are burnt out from the week and looking for entertainment. The weekend also gives consumers more time to explore the platform and discover their favorite content.
Other video platforms like TikTok and Instagram focus on short-form content, making it easy for consumers to get what they need during breaks throughout the day. YouTube, however, requires a bigger time commitment if you're making longer-form videos.
Bear in mind, though, that YouTube is prioritizing YouTube Shorts and its short-form videos are gaining popularity.
When is the worst time to post on YouTube?
Wondering when you shouldn’t post on the platform? According to our research, Mondays and Tuesdays aren’t so popular among marketers.
Only 9% of marketers surveyed said Mondays were the best time to post on the video platform and another 9% chose Tuesdays, making these two days tie for last place.
As for the worst times, here’s the breakdown:
- 6 AM to 9 AM.
- 9 PM to 12 AM (midnight).
- 9 AM to 12 PM.
Only 22% of respondents said an early morning posting (between 6 AM and noon) offered the best results.
Does it matter what time you post on YouTube?
I think the answer to this is both yes and no. Yes, it does matter what time you post on YouTube in the short term because it will impact how many views your video gets within the first few hours.
Optimizing your views during this time period can help you generate more traffic to your content and help the growth of your channel.
However, it doesn’t play a huge role in the long term. Say your video was posted at 3 AM, that has little impact on how many views it can garner over the next couple of months or years.
Unlike a platform like Instagram where fresh content is key to success, novelty is not the biggest ranking factor on YouTube — relevance is.
This means that even if your video may not perform well initially, if it’s the most relevant video to a user’s query, it can quickly gain traction. So I recommend your first priority be to make videos that are relevant and of good quality.
I think another trend to consider is AI. In 2023, 71% of marketers said they used generative AI for content creation and that it performed better than content made without it.
A whopping 87% planned on using AI tools for content creation in 2024 and the majority (26%) said they think YouTube will have the most promising generative AI features.
If you’d like to leverage AI for your videos, check out HubSpot’s AI Clip Creator to enhance and accelerate your video production.
How to Find Your Channel's Best Time to Post
Your Analytics dashboard is the best place to find the most accurate and reliable data on your channel — including the best time to post.
If your channel generates enough traffic, you'll gain access to an advanced report which shows you when your viewers are most active on the platform.
I think this will be especially insightful so that you can post videos when your audience is online, which may not coincide with the trends I cited earlier.
To access this page, follow these steps:
- Open YouTube Studio.
- Click on Analytics.
- Open the Audience tab and view your report.
With this personalized information, you’ll be able to find the best time to upload YouTube videos.
Posting Videos on YouTube
Digging into the data showed me that knowing the best times and days to post on YouTube isn’t meant to be a strict rule on when you should post.
Instead, I recommend you use this data as a guide to optimize your channel for short- and long-term success.
I’ve learned that the most important part of leveraging YouTube for your brand is making content that is high quality and relevant to your audience.
And with YouTube soaring in popularity and potential revenue, it’s worth the investment to do it right.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in May 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
