Rising Creators Forum

I keep seeing conflicting advice about when to post videos. some people say post in the morning, others say afternoon, some say it doesn't matter at all

My videos usually get most of their views in the first 24 hours and then drop off hard. so i'm thinking if i post at the right time i could get more initial momentum and maybe the algorithm would push it more

right now i post randomly whenever the video is done editing which is usually like 11pm my time lol. but should i be strategic about this?

What time do you post your videos and have you noticed a difference in performance based on timing?

i've tested this pretty extensively and here's what i found: posting at the same time every week matters more than what specific time you choose

I used to post randomly and my views were all over the place. Then I started posting every wednesday at 5pm and my views became way more consistent. i think youtube's algorithm likes consistency and also my subscribers knew when to expect new content

As for the actual best time, it depends on your audience location. if most of your viewers are in the US, posting between 12pm-3pm EST tends to work well because that catches afternoon on the east coast and morning on the west coast

But honestly if you're a small channel this isn't your biggest problem right now. just pick a consistent schedule and stick to it. You can optimize posting time once you're actually getting decent views

The "best time to post" thing is kind of overblown honestly. youtube isn't like instagram where timing matters a ton because of the chronological feed

Your videos get recommended based on performance, not on when you post them. so a video posted at 3am can still blow up days or weeks later if youtube sees that people are clicking and watching

That said, there IS some benefit to posting when your audience is most active because you'll get more immediate views from subscribers which signals to youtube that the video is good. go into your youtube studio analytics and look at "when your viewers are on youtube" - that'll tell you the best time for YOUR specific audience

For me that's tuesday and thursday at 2pm EST. but your audience might be completely different

I wouldn't stress about this too much though. focus on making better thumbnails and titles first, that'll have way more impact than posting time