Posting YouTube content when your audience stays most active results in higher engagement and boosts the video’s visibility. Practically the best time to post on YouTube is a couple of hours before everyone wakes up and starts scrolling. However, as the target audience differs, evaluating the existing data and consumer behavior will help you make an informed decision.
But compared to all, you might also be looking for the best standard time to schedule a post on the platform. To find out, read the article and give your post the kickstart it deserves.
In the modern competitive era, every bit of your planning and efforts matters to boost your engagement and visibility on YouTube. Along with impeccable script and high-quality content, the right posting time, can work as a magical ingredient in your content strategy.
So, take a look at some of the best time slots that can truly bring magic to your channel analytics.
| Days | Time to Post (EST) |
| Monday | 2 PM to 4 PM |
| Tuesday | 2 PM to 4 PM |
| Wednesday | 2 PM to 4 PM |
| Thursday | 12 PM to 3 PM |
| Friday | 12 PM to 3 PM |
| Saturday | 9 AM to 11 AM & after 5 PM |
| Sunday | 9 AM to 11 AM & after 5 PM |
Let us understand the time distribution in detail.
You might have heard about the Monday blues. Being the first day of the week, it comes out to be the busiest day, full of work and handing down new tasks. That said, Monday can bring you the fewest interactions and engagement chances.
Therefore, if you are still planning to post on the same day, consider the 2 PM to 4 PM slot.
Following the footsteps of Monday, Tuesday is also not considered the best time to make a post that flourishes in the trending leaderboard. But in case you have planned the video for Tuesday, choose the same slot: 2 PM to 4 PM.
It is still a weekday and the condition will also remain the same as before two. With workloads and busy schedules, people often miss spending time watching content. While the engagement expected will be slow, you can share the content between 2 PM to 4 PM.
This day of the month comes out to be the beacon of hope for content creators. Being close to the weekend, people are likely to indulge in social activities to look for new ideas and content for entertainment. So the best time to upload to YouTube is 12 PM to 3 PM.
Friday is the day before the weekend when people prepare themselves to spend the weekend with lots of rest and entertainment. Amongst all, Friday is considered the best day to post on YouTube between 12 PM to 3 PM to acquire the highest engagement.
As per the observations, the audience remains more active on the weekends. So posting a video on Saturday can be the best bet. Posting content between 9 AM to 11 AM & after 5 PM will likely get your video indexed in the audience feed.
The best time to post a video on Sunday is from 9 AM to 11 AM & after 5 PM. However, consider posting videos at any time, as people choose to scroll and stay active during the whole day on weekends.
Hence, believing that the above-mentioned times will work equally for every content creator can be a myth. Instead, the time can work brilliantly for one and can perform worse for another. So consider analyzing your audience and channel real-time parameters and experiment with different slots to finalize the one.
Yes, the posting time matters on YouTube, which can help your YouTube video gain traction in the first few hours. Being one of the largest video platforms, it prioritizes authentic, high-quality content and user interaction and experience with it. Determining the audience behavior report and interactions with your past video can help you know the suitable time to post the video on your channel that can get more likes and views.
At the same time, consistency is the key to success. So, sharing the related content as per your schedule at the right time can streamline the visibility and engagement of your channel.
For a better understanding, YouTube has introduced an inbuilt tool, “When your viewers are on YouTube” that offers a full-fledged report of the active status of your users for the last 28 days. Check out the step-by-step process to monitor your YouTube performance.
Moving ahead, the lighter bars reflect the lowest engagement, whereas the dark blocks indicate the highest interactions of your videos. Meanwhile, use these reports to plan your content timing and days to make the most out of your efforts.
Ultimately, there is no universal time to post your video on YouTube. But to mark some of the standard slots that can work in everyone’s favour, the platforms have conducted the surveys. Have a look at the findings.
| Platform | No.of Respondents | Best Time(Weekdays)(Mon-Thu) | Best Time (Weekends)(Fri-Sun) | Best Days |
| Hubspot | 1,400 Marketers | 2 PM to 4 PM | 9 AM to 11 AM | Sunday |
| Frederator Network | 1,300 Channels | 2 PM to 4 PM | 9 AM to 11 AM (Fri: 12 PM–3 PM) | Thursday and Friday |
| Social Pilot | 50,000 Accounts | 2 PM to 4 PM | 9 AM to 11 AM | Friday |
Overlooking the factors that help to identify the best time to post YouTube videos can result in severe downfalls. To make informed decisions, have a look at the important factors mentioned below:
The type of content you choose to post can be a game-changer for overall engagement and visibility. So, your niche will be a factor that will decide what will be the best time to post your video. For instance, the time will differ for posting learning or educational content from the channels targeting the fun videos.
YouTube is one of the powerful video streaming platforms that boasts approximately 2 billion active users across the globe. So figuring out the time zone and geographical locations of your target audience will give you a more positive impact than picking some random slots.
The YouTube video rolls out to be in favor when published at a time aligned with the targeted audience’s watch time preferences. So, analyzing the average age and occupation of those who view your YouTube videos can help you figure out the best times to post your videos.
Suppose your target audiences are married women, so it is better to post the content in the morning so it will get indexed till the afternoon when they are more inclined to watch TV and online content.
Staying consistent with your niche and posting time can help you make a spot in the audience’s mind for that day or hour. Plan and schedule your content for every week or month beforehand, to not miss out on any chances of acquiring the desired engagement.
Hence, besides all the above-mentioned, consider sharing YouTube videos on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms to maximize your reach.
The posting time is the key component that is often missed by the creators while planning the content strategies. YouTube is a platform that is typically used by people outside the working hours. So, taking into consideration when your audience is ready to watch the content can crack the high-engagement codes for your channel.
Keep in mind, YouTube success is unpredictable, and staying consistent with your work can do wonders!
Uploading your video in the time slot when it can gain the maximum traction can give a boost in engagement metrics including likes, views, subscribers, and more.
Posting videos in the hours when people like to watch content on mobile devices. Hence, 9 PM is the peak time for television shows that can withdraw the attention of the users from YouTube.
The ideal condition is to drop the post once a week. But this condition can vary from creators to the following niches.
Outside the peak hours or mainly standard working hours can be identified as the worst time to make a post on YouTube.
