How to Analyze YouTube Shorts Performance
Published on 10.04.2026 by Chizoba T
YouTube Shorts have become a popular content format, with short videos attracting over 2 billion monthly users and over 200 billion views per day. With these kinds of numbers, it’s clear why many brands try to leverage short-form videos. However, Studies indicate that 68% of e-commerce brands abandon their YouTube Shorts strategy within 90 days because it does not generate the desired revenue.
Before you give up on your YouTube shorts content strategy, you need to conduct a YouTube channel audit to see what is working and what is not. You should also monitor the performance of your YouTube Shorts. In this guide, we walk you through the steps for analyzing a YouTube Shorts performance.
Why YouTube Shorts Analytics Differ from Other Videos
One mistake creators make is assuming that YouTube Shorts are just another form of vertical video and treating them as an extension of those videos. The success of vertical videos often depends on the titles and thumbnails. When people see a video that they think will be interesting, they click on it.
Once your long-form videos start receiving more clicks, the YouTube algorithm rewards them with a higher click-through rate. On the other hand, Shorts usually autoplay in the feed, and the thumbnail plays no role in their visibility. That means the dynamics of YouTube Shorts are completely different from those of long-form videos.
When creating a YouTube short, the first two seconds should be treated as the thumbnails. This is what will hook the viewer and determine if they continue watching the rest of the hook. According to various studies, YouTube doesn’t even track Shorts CTR because there’s nothing to click.
It is also worth noting that the metrics for short-form content differ considerably from those of long-form content. For instance, in long-form content, the average view duration is an important metric measured in minutes. On the other hand, having your shorts garner an average view duration of a few seconds can be seen as good, even when it’s just 20 seconds for a 30-second Shorts. This is why short-form video content is eating into traditional influencer posts.
A key consideration for Shorts is the viewed-versus-swiped-away metric. This will show you how many people choose to watch your Shorts compared to those who swipe away. If your short was shown to 10,000 people and only 3,000 watched, that’s a 30% view rate, which means your hooks aren’t performing well.
YouTube has changed how Shorts view counts are calculated. Anytime the shorts begin to play, including when they are in a loop, counts as a view, which means there is no longer a minimum watch time needed. A passive loop can help increase your raw view count, which is why you need to dig deeper into your view count to see who actually interacted or watched. That is why you need to understand how to boost your watch time.
If people are consistently watching your entire short, YouTube interprets this as a sign that you are creating quality content and promotes it further. Retention is one of the most important factors affecting Short’s success.
Key Metrics Affecting the Performance of a Short
To determine if your YouTube Short is performing well, consider the following metrics:
Viewed vs. Swiped Away
As noted earlier, this is arguably the most important metric. It tracks the percentage of users who actually stop scrolling to watch the short. If you are getting a figure below 60%, your Short will not be recommended to new audiences. You can fix it by testing various visual openings of the same script.
Relative Audience Retention
This metric helps compare the retention of your short videos with that of similar-length videos. It illustrates whether your clip is good or mediocre. If you realize that you are getting high views but with low relative audience retention, your Shorts performance is about to tank.
Returning Viewers
This is perhaps one of the most important metrics for brands, as it illustrates whether people are actually coming back. If your videos are getting a high number of views but few returning viewers, you are attracting ghost audiences rather than gaining customers.
Steps in Diagnosing Your Shorts Performance
If you created a Short video that only got 500 views and flattened out, you need to audit why it’s not performing well. Here are the steps you need to follow when doing that:
Check Feed Ratio
Begin by going to Analytics, then to Content and Shorts. Check the card of “How many people chose to view?”. When you notice that the number of people who swiped away is over 50%, it shows the video’s hook isn’t working. No matter how good the content is, people aren’t seeing it.
Check the Audience Retention Graph
Check the retention curve to see if there is a sharp drop or a gradual decline. If there is a sharp drop, it indicates that people were instantly bored. Cut the introduction. On the other hand, a gradual decline means you are pacing too slowly. You can consider adding some B-roll and tighter cuts after every three seconds.
Audit the Traffic Source
Find out the source of the views, whether they were from a YouTube search or the Shorts feed. If you are getting a lot of traffic from Search, it means your SEO is on point. However, your content isn’t sticky enough to appear in the YouTube feed, which means you need to move to a search-based algorithm.
What Are Great YouTube Retention Benchmarks
For videos with retention above 76%, the average retention is typically around 76%. Therefore, you can use this to benchmark how well the high-performing content is. If the short is between 45 and 60 seconds, check the 30-second mark. While the 30-second rule no longer applies to views, the algorithm will still value viewers who at least get to the point. A great target is to keep viewers watching until the 30-second mark.
If your subscriber base grows steadily from Shorts, it indicates you are attracting the right audience, not just eyeballs. If you created 50 Shorts but they didn’t bring any subscribers, you are just offering casual entertainment. You need to tailor your content to the niche, even if that means fewer total views.
In Conclusion
Creating a Short strategy that delivers the required results may seem daunting. This can be attributed to the scroll culture with this video format, which means viewers don’t have the patience. Therefore, you need a good strategy to maintain them. Fortunately, by following the steps outlined in this guide, you can have an outstanding YouTube Shorts strategy.