Does the Youtube Bell Notification actually matter? What percentage of views come from notifications? The answer may surprise you!
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Hi I've got another video looking at YouTube stats for me because have you ever wondered why YouTubers are constantly asking you you know? sign up for the you know, click the Subscribe icon and hit that little notification Bell Why is that notification Bell so important? Well I'm going to show you here in the statistics for a uh, recent uh video of mine um which has actually done fairly well. So we'll have a look at some masks, just some general stats here, and then we'll look at the Bell notification in particular. Now this is my, uh, latest, uh, free your Sonos video which actually got um mentioned on uh, hackaday So we can actually have a look at the hackaday stats there. But you can see my Revenue uh for that video which is, uh, quite High Um, that's sort of like double or you know, a good at least a good 50 more than what an average video of mine would actually produce.

So no, it doesn't actually pay me to take the time to actually produce these videos. So YouTubers have to make money in other ways. So unless you getting like millions of views or many hundreds of thousands of views per video, it's not really paying the bills. Um that? Well but anyway, you can see like the hump here during uh, particular times.

This is why YouTubers have to release videos at a particular time. So anyway I got 78 000 views here. Uh, 10 000 watch hours again 88 subscribers. Sometimes that shows negative I I Release a video and you lost 10 subscribers.

Thank you very much YouTube You really know how to motivate us. So let's go over to the Reach here and we can have a look at some interesting data in particular Impressions and how they lead to watch time here. Now Impressions are where YouTube actually displays the thumbnail and title of your video. Uh, they push it to people.

uh, like it'll appear on your home page or it might appear to random people. might appear on the YouTube home page if you're that lucky. that's the amount of times. 815 000 Impressions Uh, it got from that.

and of course I only got like 78 000 View news from that. So you know only like about one tenth of the people that my thumbnail was displayed to are actually watching it. So of course there's a couple of uh, things that attract people to click on your video. First and obvious thing of course is the thumbnail.

Is that visually, uh, catching because when people like scroll through their home page or they're scrolling through a list of search results or or something like that, right? the thumbnail is the first thing that grabs your attention. That's why I use like yellow font like this, it's sort of. you know it pops to the eye and uh, stuff like that. Not not that I'm a thumbnail Master Not by any stretch of the imagination, but you know thumbnails do, actually, um, help a lot.

And of course, the title are you interested in this video is the person interested in this video? Is it something they want to watch and something a lot of people don't think about is the uh, watch time as well because even if you don't know it, you're looking at, oh, how long's that video? You sort of your subconscious glances at the time on the video even if you're not aware of it. Let's say I Edit: Like a video that come comes out at like 32 minutes. I'm then going to aggressively edit that video so it's just under 30 minutes. So it's like 29 minutes and 50 seconds or something like that.
So it sticks in your mind as like a 20 minute class video. Oh yeah, I've got 20 minutes. Oh, I'll watch one of these videos for 20 minutes. Um, even though it's 29 minutes.

So anyway, so all that sort of stuff factors in, but you can see that's 75 of those Impressions came from YouTube recommending my content. This is where the algorithm, the algorithm trademark. Um, you know if if you're favorable in the algorithm, it'll push your video if you're dropping out of favor with the algorithm. Um, and then yeah, you're going to get absolutely hammered so you can see uh, recommendations on the home page? That's the viewers.

Um, home page I Don't think that's the YouTube home page. Um, is 57 So it's going to be in like those dozen or so videos that it recommends to you when you uh, log into YouTube and then recommend it on the watch page 17 and then and there's uh, almost 25 percent there of viewers seeking other content. So it's recommended against other uh videos I've watched and then you can see that views from The Impressions that I got uh, not from like a subscription. Uh, and notification stuff is our 35 000 views I got from that and you can see nine minutes ten.

It's the average view duration that's not too shabby, but the interesting one is down here. and let's have a look at this: Bell Notifications sent Okay I've got almost 900 000 subscribers and only 39 500 of those subscribers actually get notified of my videos because they clicked the Bell icon. This is why YouTube is always hammering away. click the Subscribe button but also hit that Bell notification because only the Bell notification matters.

Really, that's the only way you're going to get notified. So it says before your video is published. uh, 39.5 or only 4.4 of my audience have bothered to click that build notification icon. So the rest are not going to get notified that I've got new videos.

and of course YouTube claimed that they've sent out 39 500 uh subscriber notifications but I didn't get people who have the Bell icon. They said I don't get notified of the videos and that happens to me as well. Uh, being subscribed to other YouTube channels, hit the Bell notification. I don't always get the notifications so that's just BS and everyone knows that so you know.

But they claim they send out thirty nine and a half thousand. Uh, to all of my people who have the Bell notification ticked and the notification click-through rate. And here's where the statistics come into it right: Only 1.1 or basically one percent of the people my own subscribers who like my content went to the effort to subscribe and then went to the extra effort to hit the Bell notification icon. Only one, Basically one percent of those people bothered to click on the video and watch it.
Um, so here you go: if of course I've got an Eclectic content Channel Which means I have dozens of different style of content. so everyone subscribes for a different reason. So I'm not one of those channels where you know if you subscribe to my channel, you're going to get the same thing you subscribe for every time. That's almost certainly not the case for my channel.

so it's really difficult for me to convert subscribers uh, into views. So the subscriber to view ratio of my channel is, uh, quite poor compared to like other channels like say you know, subscribe to Big Clive or a great Scott video or something. They'll sort of give you the same style of video every single time. so they get a higher subscriber to view ratio than a channel like my own one who like you could get anything when you, you know, subscribe to my channel.

So I make tons of difference I think a couple of dozen of different styles of content, but there you go, only one percent. So this is the struggle that YouTubers have um to not only get you to subscribe, but to hit the Bell notification and then, um, attract you enough with the thumbnail on the title and everything else to get you to click so only like only one percent of the people who bothered not. That's not of my entire uh ratio of people, right? So I only got 455 views, 455 views from people who hit the notification icon for that video yet I still got you know, 78 000 views or whatever because it was being pushed on home pages and and stuff like that. So this is the struggle.

So the struggle is real for YouTubers trying to convert uh, you know, those subscriptions and Bell notifications into actual uh views. So yeah, like I don't go down the rabbit hole I've like gave up years ago like looking at the statistics and trying to optimize stuff. but you know, as a as a full-time YouTuber I'm aware of, you know, I've got to make it at least half-ass effort at a decent thumbnail, a decent descriptive Uh title, and something that's you know, a relatively eye-catching thumbnail that sort of entices you to click on my video as opposed to any of the hundreds of other electronics. Uh, you know content channels that you subscribe to.

Um, you know I'm subscribed to countless Uh channels and I only have a limited amount of time per day to watch YouTube videos, probably watch more YouTube videos and I actually spend um producing content which is not good Partnerships are time sync anyway I Just thought that was a really interesting Insight 455 views on a 78 000 view video came from Bill Notification People of course you know people might I they might have seen the Bell notification and then they might have remembered and then came back later through a different mechanism. They may not have like clicked on the notification email or app thing or shoe phone app or whatever it is. uh, right. so you know there's bound to be a few more there.
Um, that sort of like bypass the tracking mechanism here, but still like. that's just incredible. So yeah it. if you're signed up to your favorite YouTuber hit the Bell notification icon.

It makes a huge difference just from a sheer statistics point of view of how many people are going to not only see that notification being whether or not they actually get it based on whether or not YouTube will grant them uh, the honor of getting the notification they signed up for. Um, but yeah, they they do claim 39 500 subscribers. Got the notification and other videos here like it's the same thing, right? They claim that they're sent out for every single video video. They claim that they sent out thirty nine half thousand notifications I don't think so.

Yeah, can you smell that? Yeah, so you can see for example, this high security safe lock video which of course is a niche topic. It doesn't really appeal uh to a lot of people, but there's 283 views from the you know, the near forty thousand uh subscribers notified apparently. um and that that video only got like 24 000 views or something. So like a third of the views that this one got.

Yet this one only got 455 views. So you can see that the YouTube recommendation push in your Um content is you know, proportioning your total traffic YouTube Search terms right? It's Search terms. People searching for Eev blog, right? searching for Sonos What's what's this one over here? Yeah, it's people just searching for Eev. Block So when you put up the title, does that come up could be could display one of my older videos.

you know YouTube has a habit of like putting up you know, 10 year old videos, seven-year-old videos or something. Um, so yeah, it's just a random when you search for that. but that's interesting huh? And if you want to know how many views I got from being uh hackadayed, here you go. Uh, 73 came from the YouTube Uh search I said well Google uh search and uh 20 came from Hackaday.com so we can actually see more down here and it should.

Actually There you go Hackaday? uh 2800 views came from hack a day you know? so that was a a little business boost. not a huge amount uh really considering the video like 78 000 views but you know, like four times more or something came from um just Google um searches search results with linked on which linked to YouTube videos. so that seems to be like actually Google Search terms rather than YouTube as a uh like search term. So so a huge thing there.

and there's 17 people on Discord and uh Twitter is not a driver um for videos never has been Facebook's um Facebook is a much bigger driver but I do actually have if you don't know I do actually have a Facebook page which all my videos get Auto posted over there but sorry I do not use all read comments on Facebook it's just my page is there if you want to discuss with other people but sorry I don't um virtually never go there. so hackaday, not a huge um impact on the 78 000 total views there. you know when? look there's get weird. oh look at that.
three people from DuckDuckGo that's all happening um and all sorts of communities. they get really obscure anyway I hope you found that interesting because yeah I was like just shocked at that because I don't look at my stats all that often. 455 views out of 78 000 came from my notification people 1.1 of the people who bothered two and thank you very much for like in being notified for my latest video I Know all my videos don't appeal to everyone who subscribes. You'll subscribe to different reasons.

Uh, thank you very much. But now fair enough. you can say my channel is an athletic Channel You know I don't give people what they sign up for every single video so you know, know, fair enough at the 1.1 percent. But the interesting thing is here: look it, Tell it.

YouTube tell us typical on YouTube So this is a typical of other YouTube channels is only 0.5 to 1.5 percent. So I'm like bang in the middle of where you expect it even for an Eclectic Channel like mine. Does that mean like a non-eclectic uh channel one that gives you the same video every single time that's really popular? uh channels that however, High subscribe subscriber to view ratio. are they like at the top of the cream of the crop at 2.5 percent? even that is terrible.

So this is why yeah, you have to be blessed by the algorithm. So I hope you found that video interesting and useful. If you did, please give it a big a thumbs up. And as always, discuss down below and over on the EV blog forum And yeah, hit that Bell notification icon for every channel you subscribe to.

Big! it's we're struggling. The struggle is real. Catch you next time.

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By YTB

20 thoughts on “Eevblab 105 – does the youtube bell notification matter?”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars My Project Box says:

    YouTube Studio is a rabbit hole that can become a unhealthy obsession. I spend way too much time on it. I should spend more time on actually making videos 🤣

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Adam Mansbridge says:

    I don't hit the bell, but I use the subscription tab so I see everything

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Wael Sadek says:

    I sometimes click add to watch later when I get the notifications, so don't know if that counts or not.

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars FenceUp says:

    Problem is that notification isn't that popular. I see you're new videos in my general feed and also when I go to my subscription page. My phone pings enough without you tube adding to that. In fact I turn notification off on most apps.

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Ellis Garbutt says:

    I never watch the video from a bell notifacation I have this weird thing where I have to go tot he youtubers page and watch the video from there

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Crisps says:

    I don't tend to act on the notifications themself, but it makes me remember that the particular channel has some new content and I'll either queue it up to download for the work commute the next day or watch at my desk later.

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars vikingbeard says:

    Interesting video, thanks! I may be subscribed to 100 channels and get notified of three or four. I always watch the notified videos. But the notification bell keeps showing the new notification, as I watch videos via the subscriptions feed (my favourite youtube feature).

    Youtube should ban videos begging for likes, subscriptions, notifications and comments, it's getting very annoying.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars SouthShoreTrain says:

    I clicked the bell on most channels I've subscribed to, but I have notifications shut off on every device and browser I use so they all fall into a black hole somewhere and probably still get counted in the stats. I enjoyed the email notifications until youtube did away with them years ago, as that was faster for me then trying to load the bloated youtube webpages to see new content (I might get 3mbps on a good day here). I'd just put the interesting videos in a folder in my email then watch when I have time, just like the Watch Later page on youtube but without waiting several minutes for it to load each time.

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Electrowave says:

    My notifications stopped a couple of years or so ago. The only notifications I receive now are if I manually click on a button to notify me of a premier, or an up-coming live. Any bell option I select makes no difference to notifications, I just don't receive them any more on any of my computers. I have a lot of plugins installed to my browser so wouldn't be surprised if one of those is interfering but I just changed the way I view YT. I now go to my subscriptions page and select from there what I want to watch from channels I am subscribed to.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars DJkayoo says:

    Sometimes I watch videos from youtubers that I'm not subscribed to and I will get more videos recommended from them than channels that I'm subscribed to with the bell YouTube algorithm really "works" I guess

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars sandi rupenovic says:

    I guess the bell notified viewer counts only the people that clicked the link from the notification, not many people have time to watch a video as soon as it comes out.
    Personally i don't use the bell notification because I never have the time to watch the video as soon as it comes out and i don't like getting my phone flooded by notifications.
    When i have the time i open my subscription page and go from YouTuber to YouTuber and watch the new video they published

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars dumbasPL says:

    I might be a weird one but I turn on the bell on almost every channel but have notifications for youtube disabled on my phone and everywhere else. I'm a "collector" of notifications. Currently, I have almost 40K unread notifications and my record was something like 65k+. It ends when I misclick the notifications icon on my phone. I know a few other people who do that, so I'm not alone. In general, I can't stand having unread things but youtube is just different for some reason.

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Weißenschenkel says:

    I disabled notifications for channels where there's more than a video a month. And some channels like BBC I'm not even subscribed to but I watch a fair amount of their content.

    Meanwhile YouTube keeps pushing garbage towards me, like Verit*sium's videos.

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars eDoc2020 says:

    I'm clearly in the minority. Periodically I'll check the notifications on the PC web client and I'll open a new tab for each video I might want to watch later. When I have the time I'll go through the tabs oldest to newest and watch the ones I'm still interested in. I never go to the homepage or to the subscriptions page.

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars r4tch3t says:

    How does it handle watch later? I use notifications to add videos to the playlist so I don't miss any. Yet I still have to go and look for missing videos

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Rob Malford says:

    Trick question. Nothing on the internet matters.

  17. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars DDB says:

    I was astonished only 1 view came from Patreon ! (if I saw that correctly)

  18. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars lmw lmw says:

    And even worse, only 1% take the time to hit the LIKE button …. and in the case of this video only 914 Likes (including mine) at the time I am
    watching it. And with around 12.000 visualizations, this makes only 0,7% of LIKES…!!! These videos take a lot of time and effort, but it seems
    that people just don't think about that…!!! Very Interesting video Dave.

  19. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars BoffinBrain says:

    We shouldn't be encouraging people to use the notification bell.
    We should tell them to use the ol' reliable YT Subscriptions page, where the algorithm cannot hide things, and you see all videos nicely ordered by release date.

  20. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars EEVblog says:

    UPDATE: I've checked with other electronics Youtubers and they get similar numbers to me on the views from Bell Notification percentage.

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