What Is a Good Clickthrough Rate on YouTube?

When I first started YouTube, I was monetized within six months. I had a clickthrough rate (CTR) of 2-4%, and I thought I was on my way to financial freedom and going viral. But a year later, I was seeing the same view numbers. My channel wasn’t growing like I thought it should be.

I studied the heck out of thumbnails and titles, but I failed to see the results, and I was frustrated! Nothing seemed to help. Been there, done that anyone?

That’s when I discovered the single most important thing affecting CTR. But before I go into what I learned, let’s get an understanding of CTR in the first place.

Understanding YouTube Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

Clickthrough rate (CTR) measures the percentage of people who click on your video after seeing its thumbnail and title. It’s calculated as:

CTR = (Clicks / Impressions) × 100

For example, if your video was shown 1,000 times in search results, on the homepage, or in suggested videos, and 50 people clicked on it, your CTR would be 5%. A YouTube impression is counted when a video thumbnail is shown to a user for more than one second, and at least 50% of the thumbnail is visible on the screen.

What Is a Good Clickthrough Rate on YouTube?

The ideal CTR varies based on factors like your niche, audience, and video type. However, YouTube states that most channels have a CTR between 2% and 10%. Here’s a general breakdown:

• Below 2% – Your thumbnail or title may not be engaging enough.
• 2% to 4% – Average range, but there’s room for improvement.
• 4% to 6% – A solid CTR for most niches.
• 6% to 10% – Excellent performance, showing strong audience interest.
• Above 10% – Often seen in viral videos or channels with loyal subscribers.

Despite all my efforts and knowing all this, my CTR wasn’t improving. Frustrating! I know you know that feeling of spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.

But through heaps of courses, coaching, and studying, I started to gain an understanding of why my CTR wasn’t improving. You see, most people focus on the design and wording of their thumbnail and title, which is important…

But not half as important as THE ORIGINAL IDEA.

A compelling concept must come first—before I even start producing a video. Once I started focusing on the idea before anything else, my CTR began to climb.

When I first started to understand the importance of idea, I actively went through and brainstormed, ranked ideas, and then eliminated the worst. General rule of thumb is quantity equals better ideas. Don’t settle for the first one that resonates with you.

Over time though, I started to gain an instinct for good ideas. For example, I recently put out a video about organising the Auckland Boat Show for YouTubers. Before ever pushing publish, I knew the video wouldn’t do well (though I had sponsorship obligations I had to fulfill).

Conversely, the last video I put out about becoming a New Zealand citizen, I knew it would do well.

My next videos about starting the Te Araroa trail prep to walk across New Zealand, I think the gear videos will do well in search over time but not instantly browse. The first solo hikes where I experience disaster will do well in browse, but the videos about some of the behind-the-scenes prep will likely only resonate with my core supporters.

You can probably see how it makes sense that some of these ideas will do better than others, but what do you do if what’s ahead of you doesn’t seem so interesting? And what do you do once you have the idea?

How to Improve Your Clickthrough Rate on YouTube

1. Focus on a Strong Video Idea First

If you find what is happening in your life doesn’t seem so interesting, this is where you need to get creative. And side note, creativity is heaps easier when you are in a mentally “light” space enjoying life, so take care of your mental health.

For example, let’s imagine you get yourself a new dinghy for your boat. Not very interesting, aye?

But what if at the very beginning of the episode, you challenge your partner to a race in the old dinghy versus the new dinghy. Throughout the entire episode as you retrieve the new dinghy, install the seats, and add the paddles, there is banter and build up about who will win the race. You both prep yourselves by stretching, eating a nutritious meal, and then planning your strategy.

And then finally, the big moment comes where you actually race. The final payoff of the episode is whoever wins the race and a denouement about how good it is to have a new dinghy.

What was once a boring episode is now a thrilling and humorous race.

2. Get Clarity

One of the biggest issues that causes a low click through rate is lack of clarity of what the story is about. If you don’t have clarity about what the single storyline is in your video, how are you going to make a clear promise on your thumbnail and title?

This is one of the most common issues I see with low-performing videos. Thumbnails are overcrowded with too many words and multiple subjects meaning your eye doesn’t know where to go. Titles are confusing, unclear or not compelling with words like, “Boat work and seeing an island,” or “Our new dingy”

When you have clarity around the idea, such as “We raced our old dinghy versus our new dinghy”, suddenly we have this clear picture in our head of what needs to be show on the thumbnail: Two dinghies racing OR a picture of one of the dinghies with a determined racer in it. Nothing else. We don’t need the island in the background, the sailboat, the cat, the dog. All of that just takes our attention away from the singular storyline. And, we already have several title ideas which makes it very clear what’s happening:

• Old vs. New Dinghy: The Ultimate Race!
• We Put Our Old and New Dinghies to the Test—The Results Shocked Us!
• Dinghy Showdown: Can Our Old One Keep Up?

3. Improve Your Video’s First 30 Seconds

Here’s the last thing people fail to understand – your Click Through Rate is affected by how many people watch the first 30 seconds of your video.

Let’s say you have a high click through rate – but for whatever reason you have low impressions. YouTube simply isn’t pushing your video out to a wider audience despite the fact that clearly people are clicking through. If you see that in your analytics, typically, it’s because your intro sucks.

You see, the job of an intro is to confirm the promise you have just made in your thumbnail and title. If you’re about to race boats, we need to immediately see either the boats racing or partner A challenging partner B. If we don’t see that immediate verbal or visual confirmation of the promise, then we think we are getting duped, which happens a lot on YouTube.

When YouTube sees that steep decline in your intro, it decides that, “Hey, this video isn’t performing once pushed to a wider audience, so we aren’t going to show it to anyone.”

Guys, I spent YEARS ignoring that steep decline at the intro acting like it was normal and everyone experiences it. The truth though: Channels that ignore the steep decline never grow. And 90% of channels will never monetise, so that’s probably why it’s normal and everyone experiences it.

But don’t you want to grow?

Don’t ignore that steep decline. Work on your intros.

For me, once I understood the power of the idea, I almost instantly know if a video will do well just based on the concept alone. And because I’m clear on the idea, I also have clarity on a singular storyline the video is following. That means I know exactly what my thumbnail and title need to communicate—without making them overly complicated.

With all these improvements, I now see a channel average of 6-8% CTR and never see my clickthrough rate go below 10% in the first 24 hours after putting out a new video.

Final Thoughts

A good clickthrough rate on YouTube depends on your niche and audience but aiming for at least 4% to 6% is a solid goal. In fact, I would say aim even higher – why not?! Focus on improving your video ideas, thumbnails, and titles to increase your CTR and grow your channel. You got this!