How to Use YouTube Studio

YouTube Studio is your golden ticket to a more effective YouTube channel if you're a creator. What is the purpose of YouTube Studio? This platform allows you to upload and edit videos, view analytics, respond to comments, create and manage playlists, and change settings all in one place. Get a look at all of the tool's features and a step-by-step guide to using YouTube Studio down below.

What Exactly Is YouTube Studio?

YouTube Studio is the channel management tool on YouTube. It includes a variety of features and tools to help you manage your channel effectively, from reviewing the analytics of each video to monetizing your content.

You can use your web browser to access YouTube Studio, but there are also YouTube Studio apps for Apple and Android devices, allowing you to manage your channel from any device.

Is YouTube Studio available for free?

With so many features and tools available on the platform, you may be wondering: Is YouTube Studio free? Fortunately, YouTube Studio is a free tool that anyone with a YouTube account can use.

YouTube Studio Functions and Features

What is the purpose of YouTube Studio? Almost everything a content creator could want. We'll look at some of the most useful YouTube Studio features below.

The Playlist

Playlists are an excellent way to organize your videos, provide your viewers with a constant stream of relevant content, and increase your overall watch time. You can add and manage playlists in YouTube Studio by using this tab.

Content Management

You can upload and manage your YouTube videos and live streams in the platform's Content tab. If you're a well-known YouTuber, you may have a large number of videos. This tool allows you to easily sort your content by name, date published, or number of views, comments, or likes.

You can also manage each individual video from this view. You can edit the basic elements of the video, such as the title, description, and thumbnail, as well as dive into the video's individual analytics and comments, by going to the video's Detail page.

Analytics

Monitoring the performance of your channel and individual videos can provide you with information about what your viewers want to see and what you can change to better engage them. You can access data organized into four tabs in YouTube Studio's Analytics section:

Overview: Includes the number of views, total watch time, and subscribers.

Reach: Data on impressions (how frequently thumbnails of your videos were shown on YouTube) and traffic sources.

Engagement: Top videos, as well as statistics on watch time and average view duration

Audience: Information about your viewers and subscribers, such as age, gender, and location.

Comment Management

Interacting with your subscribers through comments is an important part of managing your brand or business, but as your channel grows, it can become difficult to respond to hundreds (or more!) of comments per video. You can view, manage, and respond to comments left on your videos in the comments section. All in one place, you can filter comments by specific words or phrases, review pending comments, remove comments, report spam, and reply to comments.

Subtitles

As a YouTube creator, you should make your videos as accessible as possible so that as many people as possible can consume and enjoy your content. You can add subtitles to your videos in YouTube Studio's subtitles section. There are several methods for accomplishing this, ranging from uploading a pre-written file to using auto-translate. You may need to experiment to find the method that works best for you, but the effort will be well worth it.

Monetization Tools

Monetization is an important aspect of channel management for many YouTubers. You can find tools to help you earn money from your videos under the monetization tab. If you aren't yet a YouTube Partner Program member, this tab will display a dashboard of your progress toward qualification, which includes 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Once you've qualified, you can enable ads for your videos and choose the types of ads you want to see.

Customization Features

You can change the look of your YouTube channel in the Customization tab. Branding elements such as your profile picture, banner image, video watermark, channel name, and channel description are included. You can also organize your videos into featured sections and include a featured video for current subscribers as well as a channel trailer for those who haven't yet subscribed to your channel.

Audio Library

You can search and find royalty-free music and sound effects for your videos in the audio library. You can save an audio file as a favorite by clicking the star next to it, making it easy to find for future videos.

The library makes it simple to determine which audio files require credit (which means you have to credit the artist in your video description). If you prefer to use attribution-free audio files, you can easily create a filter that searches for "Attribution not required."

How to Use YouTube Studio

1. Access Your Account

Log in to YouTube, but make sure you're on the right account. You could, for example, have a personal login as well as a business or brand channel. To switch accounts, go to your avatar in the top right corner of the page and click Switch Account.

2. Go to YouTube Studio.

Click YouTube Studio after clicking on your profile picture in the top right corner of the page. Alternatively, go to studio.youtube.com. This takes you to your channel dashboard.

3. Explore the Dashboard

The initial dashboard view will provide you with immediate insights into your channel. You'll be able to see metrics on your most recent video in comparison to your average video performance, a few key channel analytics (current number of subscribers, top videos from the last 48 hours, and watch time and number of views over the past 28 days), and any known YouTube issues. You can also take a few quick actions with the buttons in the top right corner, such as uploading a video or going live.

4. Manage Your Videos

Go to the Content tab on the left toolbar to manage your videos. There is a list of all your videos and live streams there. Hover over a video thumbnail to access four icons that will allow you to edit video details, access video-level analytics, review video comments, and more. Use the Playlists tab to organize videos into playlists.

5. Keep an eye on the performance of your channel.

You can track the performance of your channel and individual videos under the Analytics tab. When you first access Analytics, you'll be taken to an overview page. To view an individual video's analytics, use the search bar at the top of the page (labelled "Search across your channel"). As you type in the search bar, videos will appear in a dropdown menu; simply click on the video for which you want to see analytics.

The analytics tool allows you to view data for various time periods, ranging from the previous week to the lifetime of your channel. Long-term performance trends are best examined using date ranges of 90 days or more.

6. Make Money from Your Content

If you want to monetize your content, YouTube Studio makes it simple. You can manage a variety of revenue sources, such as ads, memberships, and merchandise, in the Monetization tab.

You can manage each video's ads individually by clicking on it. You can select the type of ad (e.g., display ads, overlay ads, skippable video ads) and the location of the ad on YouTube (e.g., before the video, during the video, or after the video).