Here's Why People Click Out of YouTube Videos [New Data]

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With more than 2 billion active users — or nearly one-third of the global internet audience — YouTube has become a vital platform used within most video marketing strategies.

But, as one of the biggest online platforms, YouTube is also one of the most competitive for brands. For every YouTube channel related to a specific industry, there are a handful of others churning out similar content.

To rise above YouTube’s fierce competition, you’ll need to regularly create content that grabs your viewers’ attention and keeps them engaged.

Ultimately, if viewers disengage with your YouTube videos, they’ll click out of them before they end and find better content from another channel.

Before you begin producing content, it’s important to ask yourself, “Why do consumers click out of YouTube videos?”

To help video marketers answer the question above, I used Lucid software to ask nearly 300 consumers why they disengage from YouTube videos.

Why Consumers Click Out of YouTube Videos

After taking time to film, edit, upload, and optimize videos, it can be frustrating to see a heavy viewer dropoff before the content ends. Not only can this trend hurt your YouTube engagement metrics, but it’s also a sign that you’re wasting valuable time and money making content that people aren’t even going to finish.

But, while higher dropoff rates are often a sign of content disengagement, it’s important to note that — sometimes — video exits aren’t a creator’s fault.

When I asked consumers, “Why do you most commonly click out of YouTube videos before they end?”, more than one-third of respondents, or 36%, said they drop out because “too many ads” play before or in the middle of videos.

Data Source

Below, we’ll dive into the top response, like the one noted above, to help you create the most engaging YouTube video viewing experience.

1. Too many ads appear before or during videos.

While there’s not much some creators can do about ad placement at the very beginning and end of their YouTube videos, mid-roll ads — which appear by default in videos that are eight minutes or longer — can be turned off in your YouTube settings.

If you’re trying to monetize your content by enabling more mid-roll YouTube ads, you’ll want to weigh the pros and cons of this type of ad. While you might earn more money for your content, this ad placement could also be a major friction point that causes your viewers to click out of your video.

Additionally, if you do opt to include mid-roll ads, you should take steps to make sure your video is intriguing, valuable, or exciting enough to keep the viewer watching — even with a short ad break.

To create engaging videos that will be less vulnerable to ad-related dropoff, keep reading to see the content-related reasons people click out of YouTube content.