How to create a reliable upload schedule for YouTube

When is the best time to post on YouTube? How many videos should I upload per week?

New developers usually ask these questions at the beginning of their journey, but they are not the only ones who want to create the best shipping schedule. Virtually every creator - from those just starting out to seasoned veterans - needs to reassess their workload at some point. It's a great way to balance viewer expectations while making sure you don't burn out on YouTube.

Want to find that sweet spot in your schedule? Here's how to build a content plan based on audience behavior and your own personal goals.

1. let your audience choose the best dates and times

Sometimes the best way to determine what your viewers want is to ask them! Do they prefer to watch your videos in the morning, in the evening or right after you publish them? Do they prefer to watch your videos once a week or twice a week? Questions like these give you a basic understanding of your viewers' expectations and what your content schedule might look like.

As always, we recommend posting on the YouTube Community tab to learn more about your viewers. You can create a survey (or two), asking viewers to select the dates and times they want to watch your content. In fact, lifestyle creators Josh&Sav has done this many times on its channel (shown below).

In the first survey, 92% viewers said they preferred to watch two movies during the week instead of two on Friday.

And a second survey indicates that most viewers watch videos at night. Therefore, instead of publishing posts at noon or 4 p.m., Josh&Sav might experiment with publishing later in the day.

If you choose this method, keep in mind that your audience's beliefs and actions are not always aligned. So when asking them what they I would do do is an excellent first step, try backing up these stories with data.

This brings us to the next clue....

2. determine when your audience is most active

Want to know the best time to publish YouTube posts without thinking about it? Check out the audience statistics in YouTube Studio. In this section of the site, you'll find a chart showing the days and times your viewers are using YouTube.

Here's how to get to the chart:

1. go to YouTube Studio and click Analytics On the left navigation bar.

2. click Audience patch.

3. scroll down to "When your audience is on YouTube" and then analyze the graph to see when your audience is most active. Light purple areas indicate increased activity.

Want to go even deeper? Instead of only knowing when your viewers are online, register with Pro Plan vidIQ to see the days and times viewers are watching your content. From there, you can easily view each day of the week and find the best time to publish a YouTube post.

3. check the "Average number of views per viewer" on your channel

Creating an upload schedule is difficult when you're not sure how many videos to post in a week. But don't worry: this is another data you can download from YouTube Studio.

The specific metric you're looking for is average views per viewerOr AVPV for short. AVPV represents the number of videos that each unique viewer watches on your channel. If your AVPV is three, it means that the average viewer watches three videos on your channel before leaving it.

Why this is important. If you know the number of videos people are watching, you can build your upload schedule around that number. Therefore, the first step is to find the AVPV using this handy guide.

Then do the following when creating the schedule:

• If your AVPV is low (1 or less): Focus on improving the quality of your content rather than publishing more videos.
• If your AVPV is high (2 or more): experiment with publishing more videos. If the quality of your content drops, go back to the previous frequency. After all, you don't want your AVPV to drop because your videos are not as desirable as before.

4. think about your current schedule and energy levels

After all the above steps are completed, all that remains is to analyze the data and the answers. Should you publish one video a week, or take a step forward by publishing three or more?

Once you have a number in mind, you can start asking the tough questions:

• Do I want to publish so many videos?
• Can I commit to this schedule without burning out?
• How will this new plan affect the quality of my content?

Regardless of what the numbers say, The best YouTube schedule is one you can follow. Try to build a realistic plan that will prepare you for long-term success!