The best time to post on YouTube is your time: how to find it

Every year someone publishes a chart saying the best time to post is Thursday at 3pm. It's an average across millions of channels with different audiences in different time zones, so it tells you very little about yours.

Why do generic posting-time charts mislead?

• Your audience isn't the average audience. A channel for students in India and one for retirees in the US peak at completely different times.
• Time zones. "3pm" means nothing without knowing whose 3pm.
• Timing matters less than you think. YouTube keeps recommending a good video for weeks. Publishing time mostly affects the first few hours, so a strong video posted at an odd time still finds its audience.

Where can you see when your viewers are on YouTube?

YouTube Studio's Analytics, under Audience, has a chart of when your viewers are on YouTube. It's a good place to start, but it shows when people are watching YouTube in general, not when your uploads perform best.

How do you find your best time from your own uploads?

Score each recent upload against your usual views, then group the scores by day and time:

1. List your last 30 to 50 uploads with their publish day and time, in your audience's main time zone.
2. For each one, note how it did compared with your usual views at the same age. A video that got twice your usual views scores 2×.
3. Group the uploads by weekday, and by 3-hour blocks within the day.
4. For each group, take the median score, so one viral video doesn't decide it.
5. Ignore groups with only one upload, and treat groups with fewer than three as hints.

The slot with the highest median, backed by several uploads, is your best guess. Test it for a month, then check again.

How does Vid0 work out your best time?

Vid0's best-time card does these steps for your connected channel. It takes your recent public uploads (up to 50), scores each against your own usual views at the same age, converts publish times to the main time zone of your channel's country, and groups them by weekday and 3-hour block. It shows the top three slots that have at least two uploads each, plus a median score for every weekday. It's labelled a heuristic: the YouTube Analytics API doesn't provide hour-by-hour audience data, so it's based on how your uploads performed.

Here's what it found for a real channel:

The Vid0 Chrome extension shows your best time to publish in YouTube Studio too, on a video's details page.

The same scores power Vid0's outliers. Here's how an outlier score is worked out. Posting time is one small part of growing a channel; the bigger parts, from ideas to packaging, are in how to grow your YouTube channel.

FAQ

What is the best time to post on YouTube?

The best time for your channel is when your own past uploads did best compared with your usual views. Generic charts average millions of channels and ignore your audience and time zone.

Does the time you post on YouTube matter?

It matters most for the first few hours. YouTube keeps recommending good videos for weeks, so the video itself matters far more than the time it goes out.

Which time zone should I use?

Your main audience's time zone. YouTube Studio shows your top countries under Audience. Vid0 uses the main time zone of your channel's country.

How many uploads do I need to find my best time?

At least a few per slot. A slot backed by one upload is luck. With fewer than three uploads in a slot, treat the result as a hint.

Should I post at the same time every week?

A consistent schedule helps your regular viewers know when to expect you. Just test a few alternatives first so the time you settle on is a good one.