YouTube Question How do you guys feel about the chapters feature?

[ProjectGirlBoss]

i keep going back and forth with this one. Some days I think its great, other days I feel like it could hurt your retention. The general idea is it allows the viewer to get to the information in your video that they are most interested in, but that also leaves the door open for them to just watch that small segment and then click off your video. How do you guys feel about this feature?

 

[Ikerot]

As a watcher, it's great (depending on how the creator timestamps it). It certainly can hurt the creator if the watcher's only there for certain parts, but that's what Google is already doing with tutorial videos. Even without the timestamps, viewers will still zoom around your video if you don't immediately give them the answer they're looking for.

I actually watch a gaming channel that uploads hour-long videos, but he now uses the timestamps and it's made watching his video a lot better.

 

[CoW mAn]

I love it. It's easy to implement, makes things look way more professional, and I think it shows respect for our viewers' time.

As a viewer it's fantastic. If I'm trying to get something specific from a video and they take too long to get to the point I just leave the video after like 30 seconds and that tanks their watch time and retention but if I can use the chapter to get to the 3 minutes of what I need from their 11 minute video then they got 3 minutes of watch time out of me instead of 30 seconds and they didn't annoy me as much. I'm happier, they get more watch time, and I leave with a better impression of their channel.

 

[Tito Tim]

As a creator I am unsure what affect it will have on retention. But as a viewer I love it! So, I use them on videos that need them. Anything I can do to make the viewers time more comfortable, and more productive, is probably a good thing in the long run.

 

[kitchen c/o ammama]

As a viewer, it's great feature. I don't have to waste my time to skip video to the actual point I am searching for or keep looking at the right spot. It saves my time.

and if I know that a particular channel is giving good content and is saving my time, I would prefer to watch that particular channel as it's favoring me.

Using this tool perfectly is up to the creator how and where he/she wants to use.

 

[Beanie Draws]

I'm slowly incorporating them into my videos. Short videos probably don't really need them, but they're good for talking points and tutorials.

 

[Dr Pixel Plays]

They are really great when you see that your viewers are skipping around a lot in your video. Without timestamps, they could get lost. With timestamps, there's a chance they'll stick around at least for the section.

This also reminds me that I forgot to add timestamps to one of my last videos, which already had some problems with retention. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Blessing]

Uhmmmm, havent used it. I personal wont use it as my videos are basically discussing news and viral videos relating to Africa. There is really nothing to timestamp as it is discussion based and ranting about issues.

 

[RandomFamilia]

I haven't used it either as I don't know where to use it but maybe that means I don't need to use them. All of the comments above are very good and thought out very well.

 

[Welcome to Gaming]

For my content it could certainly be handy for the viewer to skip to the matches of the games i'm playing (I tend to see this happening in my analytics anyway, people jumping ahead) but was wondering if it'll tank watch time and retention rates.

 

[Beanie Draws]

I've been seeing more and more people using it on their longer tutorial videos which has been pretty cool. I haven't taken a look at my data yet to see if they've made any real differance on the videos I use them on.
I know TubeBuddy uses them for their livestream replays, so I'd love to see if @Andrew has any data about how the chapters are having an effect on replays, because chapters have been added to the best practices list.

Chapters are still very new, so I'm not sure how much data there is collected from their use yet. But I'm always keeping an eye out for that tasty data

 

[Kryptonite]

As a creator, it does affect my watch time but I think this is a short term disadvantage. I try to keep in mind that YouTube is really created for the viewers and giving a good experience can make them a long time true fan.

One of my favorite YouTubers create chapters and because I watch her so much, I can skip the tips that I already heard from another videos of hers. I still turn on bell notification and even bought something from her.

Especially because I'm not monetized yet, sure not having a lot of watch hours hurt right now, but if I can create long time true fans, it'll be worth it in the end!