On YouTube, success isn't a gamble; it's all about wise choices. By analyzing your YouTube competitors, you can make informed decisions, not just gut ones. In this piece, we'll show you how to size up your YouTube competition and put that knowledge to work. So, let's get started.
Why Competitor Analysis Matters for Your YouTube Channel
Do you watch YouTube videos often? It's common for creators to get so caught up in making their content that they forget to watch others. Remember, successful YouTubers in your field didn't just appear overnight - most of them had a plan and a strategy.
So here's your first task: Don't just watch videos for fun, but study those made by creators in your niche. Try to figure out why they make certain decisions.
- What's the reason behind their title choice?
- Why did they pick that specific thumbnail?
- Why did they start their video that way?
- What's their secret to keeping their audience hooked?
Begin by getting a feel for your niche's landscape. Pick out about 10 channels that are doing well and gaining traction. Our goal isn't to mimic these creators but to understand why they do what they do. So… How do you analyze a YouTube competitor? Good question! Let’s break it down.
Ways You Can Find Your Channel’s Competitors
Start by browsing YouTube using keywords related to your niche. YouTube’s recommendation engine is quite useful. Look at the “Up Next” section, and check the “Related Channels” on the sidebar.
Use analytics tools for Youtube like VidIQ to uncover channels with similar audiences and growth trajectories.
Make a list of about 10 channels popular in your niche. Your goal isn’t to copy them but to understand why their strategies work. Dig into their video topics, posting schedules, and audience engagement. Want to know how to see YouTube analytics for other channels?
Here are seven steps to better understand your competitors:
Step 1. Key Metrics to Evaluate for Other YouTube Channels
Start to analyze YouTube videos with key performance metrics. They give you a clear picture of where your competitors stand. Let’s break down the most important metrics to consider:
Where to Get Information About Video Upload Frequency and Consistency
Yeah, the obvious way is to just open the channel and scroll.
But you can dig much deeper than that. With VidIQ Pro (our partners get it for free), upload data actually turns into usable insights.
- How often they upload
- Average video length
- Views per video
- Estimated earnings
- Engagement scores
Take MrBeast’s channel for example. In seconds, you can see his posting rhythm, average runtimes, views, and revenue estimates, all lined up.
And then you can go further:
- Spot which days bring the biggest spikes in views
- See if uploads cluster around seasons, trends, or ad-budget peaks
- Track how consistency boosts (or kills) algorithmic reach
- Catch when they shift formats, shorter clips vs. long-form, and what that does to views
- Uncover patterns that aren’t obvious just by looking at the upload list
Don’t just check how often a competitor uploads. Use the data to figure out why their strategy works, and where you can play it better.
Competitor Comment Analysis: Their Audience Speaks
Your next step is to dive into the comment section of your competitors. The comments on YouTube are like a backstage pass to see if the content is truly hitting the mark with viewers. It also gives you a sneak peek at potential content ideas for your channel. Give those comments a good read to understand what their audience thinks about their content.
- Do the viewers love it?
- What are they saying about it?
- Got any suggestions from them?
Quick heads-up: Take note any time someone mentions what they're curious to know more about, or what they'd love to see in action. Then, whip up some videos for your channel inspired by these audience suggestions!
And here’s where AI saves you time: instead of manually combing through thousands of comments, an AI comment analyzer can scan 10,000+ comments in minutes. It’ll instantly show you what the audience loves, what turns them off, and the exact video ideas they’re asking for next.
Competitor Engagement Metrics: Read Between the Lines
Views tell you reach, but engagement tells you impact. Instead of stopping at how many views a competitor racks up, dive into how their audience actually interacts with each upload.
Honestly, you’d be surprised how many channels we see with over a million subs but zero real engagement on the channel — so go deeper.
Here’s the trick:
- Compare ratios, not absolutes. A video with 50K views and 3K comments is often more valuable to study than one with 500K views and 2K comments. High comment-to-view or like-to-view ratios show content that sparks conversation, not just passive watching.
- Spot drop-offs. Look at where engagement tanks. For example, maybe their Shorts crush it with likes but long-form videos barely get any comments. That gap is a roadmap to what works and what doesn’t with their audience.
- Track spikes and dips over time. Did engagement shoot up when they tried a new format, or plummet after they switched thumbnails? Those shifts point to experiments worth stealing or avoiding.
Build a quick spreadsheet or dashboard where you track competitors’ likes-to-views, comments-to-views, and share spikes over several uploads.
Patterns will jump out fast, like “audience reacts way more to tutorials than vlogs” or “their Q&A format doubles comment engagement.”
We can even run that check on competitors for you. With 200+ people watching and analyzing channels every day, all you need to do is drop us your link, and we’ll start there.
Can You See Competitors’ View Duration and Watch Time?
No.
YouTube doesn’t expose Average View Duration (AVD) or Audience Retention graphs for competitor channels. That data is locked inside YouTube Analytics and only available to the channel owner. So you can’t “scrape” it directly.
What you can do practically
You can get proxies for view duration and retention by observing signals that are public:
- Like/Dislike Ratio + Comments Frequency. If a video has high likes and a lot of meaningful comments relative to views, that usually means people stuck around long enough to form an opinion.
- Share Velocity. If a video spreads outside YouTube (you see embeds, reposts, TikTok cuts, or spikes in social mentions), that often indicates strong retention. People don’t share videos they bounced from after 10 seconds.
- CTR vs. Drop-Off. Compare videos with high views but very low engagement (few likes/comments). That’s often a sign of a strong thumbnail/title (high CTR) but weak AVD, people clicked in but didn’t stay.
- Audience Behavior Testing. If your competitor uses features like Premieres or Lives (where you can see peak concurrent viewers), you can reverse-engineer rough retention curves (e.g., if a live peaked at 8K and ended at 1K, you know drop-off was steep).
So, while you can’t scrape exact watch time, you can triangulate retention quality by combining public signals.
How to See if Another Channel Is Monetized
You don’t need access to someone else’s YouTube Studio to figure this out. There are a few dead-simple ways to check if a channel is monetized:
- Look for ads. Watch their videos in a clean browser (no ad blocker, ideally incognito). If you see pre-roll, mid-roll, or display ads → the channel is monetized.
- Check “Join” button. If you see the Join button under the Subscribe button, the channel has YouTube Memberships active. That’s only possible if monetization is turned on.
- Look for Super Thanks / Super Chat. On recent uploads, see if you can “Thanks” a video. Or on livestreams, check if Super Chat is available. Both require monetization.
- Check Premium revenue markers. If you play a video while logged into YouTube Premium, creators with monetization get paid a share. One way to test is by looking for ad-free Premium mentions in their community posts or comments.
Analytic tools for YouTube like TubeBuddy can also hint at monetization status through estimated earnings, though ads on videos remain the clearest signal.
Step 2. Analyze Content Strategy for YouTube Channels
Once you’ve got the numbers, it’s time to analyze the content itself. A channel’s content strategy includes everything from the types of videos to the tactics for SEO. Here’s how to break it down:
See Types of Videos They Produce
Don’t just glance at thumbnails. Break them into buckets: tutorials, challenges, reviews, Shorts, live streams.
- Count how many videos fall into each category over the last 30–60 days.
- Note which buckets get the highest average views.
- Check if they double down on one type after a breakout hit, that shows where they see traction.
This is your chance to spot any content gaps you could fill.
Understand Content Formats That Drive Engagement
Views don’t equal engagement. You want to know which formats spark reactions.
- Calculate comments-per-1,000 views across different formats.
- Compare likes-to-views ratio (10K likes on 100K views = strong).
- Look for pinned comments, polls, or Q&A features, signs they’re pushing interaction.
- Watch which formats fans reference in comments (“Do more like this!”).
Some formats naturally perform better than others. For instance, “how-to” videos, listicles, or behind-the-scenes peeks often spark viewer interest. Analyze which formats consistently generate the most comments, likes, and shares.
Find Video Length and Publishing Times for Their Best Videos
The duration of a video can significantly affect viewer retention. Look at your competitors’ most successful videos.
Length + timing = hidden edge.
- Write down the runtime of their top 10 most-viewed videos. Spot the average sweet spot.
- Track when those uploads went live (weekday vs. weekend, morning vs. night).
- Notice if they align uploads with trends or events (e.g., holiday content spikes).
- Use VidIQ/Social Blade to chart consistency, are they posting weekly, bi-weekly, or in bursts?
Learn How They Use Keywords and Do SEO Optimization for Their Channel
Study how your competitors craft their video titles, descriptions, and tags. Best YouTube analytics tools like TubeBuddy and VidIQ can help you see which keywords are driving traffic to their videos.
This is where you steal their search strategy.
- Copy top video titles into a keyword tool and see what they’re ranking for.
- Check if they repeat the same keywords across title, description, and tags.
- Look at their playlists, those often hide their main keyword clusters.
- Analyze thumbnails + titles side by side. Do they front-load keywords or lean on curiosity?
- Search their target keyword on YouTube, see if their videos consistently show up in the top 10.
You’re building a competitor playbook here, which we can also run for you at scale.
Step 3. Review YouTube Channel Design
A channel’s design plays a crucial role in creating a memorable brand and encouraging subscribers. Let’s look at two key elements:
Thumbnail Design
Thumbnails are your first impression. They should be eye-catching and give a clear idea of what the video is about. Analyze your competitors’ thumbnails: What colors, fonts, and images do they use? Do they include text overlays or calls-to-action? These design choices can make a big difference in click-through rates.
- Screenshot the last 20 thumbnails and line them up. Spot patterns in colors, fonts, faces, or props.
- Measure text usage: do they write big bold words or go minimal?
- Check contrast: do thumbnails pop in dark mode? (most viewers use it).
- Track CTR if you can (with VidIQ). A consistently high CTR design is their winning template.
Note evolution: if they changed style mid-year, it probably means testing → watch how views shifted after.
Channel Banner and Profile Icon
This is brand recognition 101 — yet in 82% of channel audits we spot design mistakes.
- Check if the banner actually says what the channel is about (schedule, niche, slogan).
- Look for CTAs: links to socials, websites, merch, or Patreon.
- On mobile, test how much of the banner is cut off, many miss this.
- Check if the profile icon is a face, logo, or character, and if it matches thumbnails. Consistency = brand stickiness.
- See if they refresh visuals seasonally (holiday, events). That’s free insight into their promotional calendar.
Step 4. Evaluate Audience Engagement
Engagement shows if their views are loyal or empty.
- Count average comments per 1,000 views. That’s your comment ratio benchmark.
- Look at pinned comments, are they using them to spark discussion?
- Scan community posts: do they get 50 comments or 5,000?
- Check if they reply to fans. A high-reply channel often builds cult-like loyalty.
- Watch for “inside jokes” or recurring fan phrases in comments. That means a tight community.
Step 5. See Their Activity in Social Networks
It’s sad, but true. If you scroll through the top 100 YouTubers with a Silver Play Button, not even half give enough attention to other socials. That’s shooting themselves in the leg. Multi-format and multi-platform is the 2025 trend.
Try to find competitors who do socials right, who repurpose YouTube content for Instagram and TikTok, who adapt formats instead of just reposting, and who clearly have strategies for each platform.
Here’s what to look for:
- Short-form edits from long YouTube videos on TikTok/Reels.
- Platform-native hooks (trending audio on TikTok, carousels on Instagram).
- Stories or Shorts that tease upcoming YouTube uploads.
- Cross-promotion loops (YouTube → TikTok → Discord → back to YouTube).
- Consistent visual branding across all platforms.
Step 6. Find Where They Distribute Videos
That’s not about growing on YouTube, but it is about growing in 2025. Even MSN opened their doors to creators this year, along with many more options you have now.
The earlier you look into distribution, the more chances you have to win. If your competitors are already beyond YouTube, that’s a good sign that your content might fit on those platforms as well.
Here are a few cases with the newly opened MSN to prove the point.
$1,300 in the First Month From the Same Videos
This creator was already well-produced and doing solid numbers on YouTube. First month on MSN? $1,300 earned. That’s 3× what the same videos were made on YouTube.
7M Views on MSN (vs 1.5M on YouTube)
Another AIR partner with a tech-focused channel tested MSN between October and December. On YouTube, they pulled 1.5M views that month. On MSN? Almost 7M. Thousands of likes and comments, and another solid revenue stream opened up.
+$1,500 in Passive Income
Even large-scale tech channels are seeing a bump. One AIR partner with a massive YouTube channel and 3.2M monthly views added MSN to their routine. Within 2 months, they saw 3.5M additional views and +$1,500 in earnings, just from recycling what they already had.
So, pick your platforms for distribution, or ask us to lay out the most promising options for you in 2025. Here are just a few cases to prove the point.
You can also repurpose their videos on other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Step 7. Find Their Collaborations and Partnerships
Collabs tell you who your competitors are connected to, and how they expand reach beyond their own audience. Look at:
- Guest appearances in their videos (and where they appear in others).
- End screens, pinned comments, and descriptions linking out to other channels.
- Brands or sponsors that keep showing up.
- Events, podcasts, or livestreams where they cross over with other creators.
- Formats. Is it challenges, interviews, split-series, or reaction swaps?
How to use it
- Spot their growth hacks. If collabs drive spikes in views/subs, it means audience crossover is working. Steal the format, not the faces.
- Identify potential partners. If your competitor collabs with a mid-tier creator in your niche, that creator is open to partnerships. Add them to your list.
- Find gaps. If a channel never collabs, that’s an opportunity to outplay them with partnerships.
- Decode brand playbooks. Repeated sponsors = strong ties. That brand may be open to backing similar creators.
- Map influence chains. If the same 5–6 creators appear across multiple competitor collabs, they’re the hub. Work your way in.
The trick is using that map to design your own partnership strategy.
Tools for YouTube Competitor Analysis
Analyzing competitors manually can be time-consuming, but fortunately, there are several tools designed to simplify this process. Here are a few:
- VidIQ. Offers insights into video performance, keywords, and engagement trends.
- TubeBuddy. Provides keyword research tools and optimization tips.
- Social Blade. Tracks subscriber growth and view counts over time.
Each of these tools can help you gather data quickly and efficiently, allowing you to focus more on strategy and less on manual research.
How to Use Competitor Insights to Improve Your Channel
Turn competitor data into action:
- Refine Content: Experiment with video types, lengths, and schedules.
- Optimize SEO: Use proven keywords, titles, and tags to boost visibility.
- Enhance Design: Focus on eye-catching thumbnails and consistent branding.
- Boost Engagement: Actively interact through comments, polls, and questions.
- Expand Platforms: Cross-promote on social media to widen your reach.
- Collaborate: Partner with creators for fresh ideas and audience growth.
When you're ready to take your YouTube channel to the next level, don't hesitate to get in touch with us at AIR Media-Tech. We're here to help you with everything from resolving strikes on YouTube to boosting your audience and revenue. Let's grow together!
Oh, and a quick reminder, don't skip the list of AI tools for creators we've put together for you. It's gonna boost your productivity like nothing else.
