Key Video Metrics to Effectively Measure the Performance of Your Videos

If you're creating videos without tracking the key social media metrics for videos, you're flying blind. Understanding video metrics is key to improving content performance.

In this article, we’ll break down the most important video KPIs to track so you can boost engagement, optimize strategy, drive real results, and ultimately make your video marketing strategy successful.

Important video metrics that highlight video performance

• Video views and views distribution over time: Tracks how often your videos are viewed and reveals performance trends over specific timeframes to identify peaks in audience interest.

• Engagement and engagement rate by views: Measures likes, comments, and shares relative to views, helping assess how compelling and interactive your video content is.

• Reach and impressions for video content: Quantifies how many unique users saw your video versus how many times it was displayed, essential for evaluating visibility and frequency.

• Total watch time and average watch time: Indicates the cumulative time viewers spend watching and the typical duration they stay engaged, signaling content retention quality.

• Completion rate: Reflects the percentage of viewers who watched your video to the end—an important metric for gauging narrative effectiveness and viewer commitment.

• Interactions: Comments, shares, saves, and replays: Captures deeper audience behaviors that signal interest, virality potential, and content value over time.

• Video metrics for benchmarking against competitors: Compares your video performance with industry peers, providing context for growth, optimization, and competitive positioning.

• Conversion metrics: traffic, clicks, and CTR from video content: Measures how effectively video content drives user action, contributing directly to ROI and funnel progression.

What are and why measuring specific video metrics matter?

Video metrics are those specific KPIs that help measure the performance of a video, helping you understand what types of videos perform better.

Think of social media analytics, such as watch time or completion rate, that offer insights into how long your social media videos should be, allowing you to further optimize your video strategy.

Here are two of the main reasons why video KPIs are so important to track:

• Understand audience watching behaviors: Pinpoint where viewers drop off, which parts get rewatched, and which videos are shared the most.
• Make informed decisions for paid campaigns: Use engagement and conversion data to invest ad spend in videos that actually drive results.

Top video metrics that reveal powerful video performance insights

Just like any other content format, videos need to be measured to understand their true impact. Here are some of the most important video analytics metrics to track if you want to boost performance, fine-tune your strategy, and truly connect with your audience.

Video views and views distribution over time

As the name itself suggests, video views refer to the number of views a video has gathered at the moment of the analysis. The views distribution over time data shows how your video views were spread over the timeframe of your analysis, indicating which segments were more effective for gathering more views.

However, a “view” doesn’t mean the same thing across platforms:

• YouTube: A view is counted when someone watches for at least 30 seconds.
• Facebook & Instagram: A view is recorded after 3 seconds.
• Instagram Live: View counts the moment someone joins.
• Twitter & LinkedIn: A view is logged after 2 seconds with at least 50% of the video visible.
• TikTok: A view is counted instantly as the video starts playing in someone’s feed.

Knowing how each platform defines a view is essential for making accurate comparisons.

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

While tracking video views reveals what content is gaining traction, the views distributed over time metric provides context, helping you identify what external factors (like shares or campaigns) might be influencing spikes.

If you want, think of video views as the quantitative analysis layer, and of view distribution over time as the qualitative analysis layer.

How to track these metrics

The raw video views number is shown in any of the social platforms' native analytics. But to see extended data such as the distribution over time, you'll need a third-party tool, such as Socialinsider.

Using Socialinsider:

1. Connect your profiles to the Socialinsider dashboard.
2. Navigate to the account you wish to check.
3. Click on “Views”.
4. View detailed graphs showing how video views accumulate day-by-day.

Engagement and engagement rate by views

Engagement measures how people interact with your video beyond just watching it — including likes, comments, shares, and saves.

Engagement rate by views goes a step further by showing the percentage of viewers who actually interacted with the video, giving you a more accurate picture of content quality and audience interest.

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

A video can have thousands of views but very little interaction—which usually means it didn’t resonate deeply with the audience. The engagement rate by views indicates how emotionally or intellectually invested viewers were.

A high engagement rate often signals stronger brand affinity, message clarity, and audience satisfaction.

How to track these metrics

Usually, the native analytics platforms display the raw engagement numbers, while the engagement rate can be manually calculated using this formula:

(Total engagements / Total views) × 100

When we talk about engagement rate, it's important to know there are several ways of calculating it, based on the platform. While the Instagram engagement rate, for example, is usually calculated by followers and by reach, in TikTok's case, it's usually calculated by views.

However, with tools such as Socialinsider, you can calculate your engagement rate with different variations, specifically for Reels.

Here are the steps to do so:

1. Add your accounts of interest to Socialinsider.
2. Navigate to the profile you wish to see data for.
3. Click on the “Reels” tab.

Reach and impressions for video content

Reach and impressions are key metrics that show how widely your video is being seen — but they measure slightly different things.

• Reach: The number of unique users who have seen your video at least once.
• Impressions: The total number of times your video was displayed, including multiple views by the same person.

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

Reach helps you gauge how many new people you’re exposing to your brand or message, while impressions help you understand how often your audience is being exposed to your content.

• A high reach and high impressions rate? Your video is expanding its audience.
• High impressions but low reach? Your current followers are seeing it multiple times (which can be great for brand recall).
• Tracking both together gives you a fuller picture of video distribution and content saturation.

How to track these metrics

Both LinkedIn and Instagram Reels track these metrics, and they are essential for understanding how far your content is spreading across networks.

Native analytics:

• On Instagram Reels, go to Insights → Content → select a video → check Reach and Impressions separately.
• On LinkedIn, under the post analytics, you’ll find Impressions and Unique Views (Reach).

Using Socialinsider:

1. Log in to the Socialinsider dashboard and select your connected profile (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook).
2. Navigate to the Reels tab.
3. See aggregated Reach and Impressions data and identify content performance trends.

Total watch time and average watch time

Total watch time measures the combined number of minutes or hours viewers have spent watching your video.

Average watch time shows how long, on average, each viewer stays engaged before dropping off. Together, these metrics tell you how much real attention your videos are earning — not just fleeting glances.

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

High total watch time shows that your content keeps people engaged, which signals value to both the platform algorithms and your audience.

Average watch time helps you understand whether viewers are sticking around or dropping off early. If most viewers leave after a few seconds, it’s a sign that your hook or early storytelling needs improvement.

How to track these metrics

Native analytics:

1. On YouTube, go to YouTube Studio → Analytics → Engagement tab → see "Watch Time" and "Average View Duration."
2. On Instagram Reels and Facebook, check post insights for "Average Watch Time" directly under each video.
3. TikTok shows Average Watch Time inside individual video analytics.
   

Using Socialinsider:

1. Access your Socialinsider dashboard and select the profile you want to analyze.
2. Go to the Posts section
3. Check Total Watch Time and Average Watch Time displayed for each video.
4. See post-level analytics by clicking on the "View analytics" button.

Completion rate

Completion rate is one of the most valuable video KPIs when it comes to video performance measurement.

Completion rate measures the percentage of viewers who watched your video from start to finish. It’s one of the strongest signals of content quality because it shows not just who clicked on your video, but who stayed until the very end.

Why it’s useful to track this metric

A high completion rate usually means your video was well-paced, relevant, and kept the audience interested. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram often prioritize videos with high completion rates in their algorithms, helping you reach even more people.

If your completion rate is low, it could signal issues with the video’s length, content structure, or storytelling.

How to track this metric

• On YouTube, find completion rate under the "Audience Retention" section in Analytics → Engagement.
• TikTok provides a "Video Completion Rate" inside each post’s analytics.

Interactions: Comments, shares, saves, and replays

Interactions go beyond passive views and show how actively your audience is engaging with your video.

Key interactions include comments (feedback and conversations), shares (amplifying your content), saves (bookmarking for later), and replays (watching again).

Each type of interaction signals a deeper level of audience interest and can significantly boost your video’s visibility through platform algorithms.

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

• Comments show that viewers are emotionally invested enough to respond.
• Shares extend your reach organically, putting your video in front of new audiences.
• Saves indicate that viewers found your content valuable enough to return to it later.
• Replays signal that your video was either highly entertaining, informative, or complex enough to warrant another view.

Tracking these interactions helps you understand which videos are resonating at a deeper level, not just surface-level interest.

How to track these metrics

Native analytics:

1. On Instagram Reels and TikTok, you can see likes, comments, shares, saves, and replays directly in the post insights.
2. YouTube lists comments, shares, and likes under the "Engagement" tab in YouTube Studio analytics.

Using Socialinsider:

1. Log into the Socialinsider dashboard and select your connected account.
2. Navigate to the Engagement tab.
3. Review the breakdown of each video’s interactions: number of comments, shares, saves, and replays.

Video metrics for benchmarking against competitors

Benchmarking your video metrics against competitors helps you understand where you stand in your industry. Two key metrics to focus on are video views and engagement rate by views.

By comparing your performance with others, you can spot opportunities, set realistic social media KPIs, and refine your social media strategy to stay ahead.

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

• Video views show how much attention your competitors are getting and can highlight content formats or topics that are working well in your niche.
• Engagement rate by views helps you measure not just who’s watching, but who’s actively interacting — a much stronger indicator of content effectiveness than views alone.

Benchmarking allows you to identify gaps in your strategy, discover new trends early, and adjust your content style, posting frequency, or messaging accordingly.

How to track these metrics

To spy on your competitors' numbers, you'll have to manually check their public metrics, such as views, likes, comments, or simplify research with a social media analytics tool, such as Socialinsider.

Here's how to do it:

1. Add your competitors’ profiles to your Socialinsider dashboard.
2. Go to the Benchmarks section.
3. Analyze video views and engagement rate by views across brands.

Conversion metrics: traffic, clicks and CTR from video content

While views and engagement are important, the ultimate goal for many video campaigns is conversion — getting viewers to take action.

Conversion-related video metrics include traffic (visits to your website or landing page), clicks (on links or CTAs), and CTR (Click-Through Rate, the percentage of viewers who clicked after watching).

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

Tracking conversions shows whether your video content is not just engaging but actually driving business results.

• Traffic shows the ability of a video to move viewers from the platform to your owned properties.
• Clicks reveal direct interaction with your call-to-action.
• CTR helps you measure the efficiency of your content in turning viewers into leads, subscribers, or customers.

Without tracking conversions, you’re only measuring brand awareness, not the true ROI of your video efforts.

How to track these metrics

Native analytics:

1. YouTube offers CTR metrics in the "Reach" section of YouTube Studio Analytics (clicks on video links, end screens, or cards).
2. Instagram and TikTok (for business accounts) provide "link clicks" if you add a link in your bio or use a clickable sticker in Stories or ads.
3. LinkedIn shows clicks and CTR for video ads and sponsored posts.

Additional video insights for video strategy evaluation

Beyond the basics, more in-depth social media video analytics can uncover powerful insights about the best-performing content pillars, audience preferences, and channel strategies.

These advanced analytics help you understand what types of videos truly drive growth, which topics resonate most, and where your audience is discovering your content.

Top and bottom videos by social media channel

Analyzing your top-performing and lowest-performing videos separately on each platform (like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn) shows you two important things:

• What works best with your audience — so you can double down on similar formats or themes.
• What falls flat — helping you avoid wasting time and budget on ineffective content.

Why it’s useful to track these metrics

Understanding your best and worst performers helps you optimize future videos by format, timing, tone, and topic. It also highlights platform-specific preferences.

How to track these metrics

Using Socialinsider:

1. Go to the Content section
2. Filter videos by performance metrics like engagement rate, views, or reach
3. Identify your top and bottom posts per channel

Best-performing content pillars for video content

Content pillars are the key themes or topics you consistently post about (for example: tutorials, behind-the-scenes, product demos). Identifying which pillars work best for video helps you fine-tune your content mix.

Why it’s useful to track this metric

When you know which topics drive the most engagement, reach, or conversions, you can focus your production efforts more strategically, instead of guessing what your audience might want.

How to track this metric

• After adding the profile to Socialinsider, click on the profile you're interested in analyzing.
• Then go to the Content Pillars section.

PS: while in the image above, the presented content pillars are AI-generated for the brand, based on its industry, you can also create some custom content pillars by manually tagging your posts and assigning them to specific categories.

Traffic sources for video content

Traffic sources show where your viewers are finding your videos. Important to remember about this data is that not all the platforms provide it.

YouTube traffic sources:

• YouTube search: Organic searches on YouTube.
• External: Links from outside YouTube (blogs, websites, etc.).
• Direct or unknown: People typing in URLs or clicking bookmarks.
• Channel pages: Visitors coming directly through your YouTube channel page.
• Browse features: Discovery from the homepage, subscription feed, etc.
• Suggested videos: Recommendations next to or after other videos.
• Other YouTube features: Includes playlists, notifications, etc.
• Shorts feed: Specific to YouTube Shorts traffic.

TikTok traffic sources:

• Search: Viewers discovering you through TikTok’s search bar.
• Personal profile: Visitors coming directly from your TikTok profile.
• Following: Content appearing in the feed of your followers.
• For you: Discovery through the For You Page.
• Sounds: Users finding your video through a trending sound.
• Search queries: Specific keywords users searched to find your content.

Why it’s useful to track this metric

Knowing traffic sources helps you focus your optimization efforts. For example, if a lot of views come from search, you should prioritize keyword-rich titles and descriptions. If Explore or browse features are key, your thumbnail and engagement rates might matter more.

Platform limitations

There is no consistency in how video metrics are defined and reported across social media platforms. For example, Meta has been changing how it labels metrics, with some reports suggesting that "impressions" might be renamed as "views" in the future.

When social media managers need to conduct a cross-channel analysis for social media marketing, they should focus on the following metrics for consistency:

• Total video posts.
• Video views.
• Engagement rate by views.

Historical posts data

When evaluating a video strategy, social media managers need access to a significant volume of historical data, which is not provided by the native analytics.

For meaningful analysis, it is important to have at least two years' worth of video post data. Without this depth of data, it becomes difficult to spot long-term trends, seasonality patterns, or the true impact of evolving social media content strategies.

Competitive benchmarks for video content

To measure success accurately, teams also need access to competitive benchmarks specifically for video content.

Native analytics platforms do not provide competitor data, which is why using a specialized social media analytics tool like Socialinsider is essential. It allows brands to track competitors’ video views, engagement rates by views, and spot content trends across industries to refine their own video strategies.

Technical factors that influence your video’s performance

While content analysis and messaging are critical, technical quality also plays a big role in how videos perform across social platforms.

• Load time and buffering effects on engagement: Slow-loading videos or frequent buffering can cause viewers to drop off before they even engage. Optimizing file size and using platform-preferred formats can improve retention rates.

• Resolution preferences across audience segments: Different audience groups have different expectations for video quality. For example, younger audiences on TikTok may tolerate lower resolution, while LinkedIn viewers often expect HD-quality professional content.

• Mobile vs. desktop viewing patterns and optimization: Most social media video consumption happens on mobile. Ensuring videos are mobile-optimized — with vertical formats, large text, and quick pacing — is critical for maximizing reach and engagement.

• Audio quality metrics and their impact on retention: Poor audio quality can reduce viewer retention even if the video itself is visually strong. Clear narration, appropriate background music levels, and captions for sound-off environments are now essential for maintaining attention.

Final thoughts

Measuring video performance through detailed social media analytics gives brands a clear advantage.

Understanding how different metrics like view rate, watch rate, engagement, etc. connect to audience behavior, content quality, and conversions helps you move closer to achieving your broader social media goals.  Strong social media insights not only show what’s working but also guide future content strategies for better reach, engagement, and impact.

Using a tool like Socialinsider for measuring video metrics makes it easier to track video metrics across channels, benchmark against competitors, and turn analytics into actionable strategies. And that’s how you build and run a successful video marketing strategy.