Calculate your engagement rate to see how well your audience interacts with your content
Helps us give you accurate benchmarks for your channel size
YouTube engagement rate measures how actively your audience interacts with your content through likes, comments, and shares. It's calculated by dividing total engagements (likes plus comments) by total views, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. This metric is crucial for understanding audience connection and attracting brand sponsorship deals.
Engagement Rate = ((Likes + Comments) / Views) × 100
Brands value engagement because it shows authentic audience connection and better ROI. High engagement rates can justify charging 20-30% more for sponsored content. Creators with 5%+ engagement are prime candidates for premium brand deals.
YouTube's recommendation algorithm heavily weighs engagement metrics when deciding which videos to promote. Videos with high engagement rates get more recommendations, leading to exponential organic growth and increased ad revenue.
Why does channel size affect engagement rate? Smaller channels typically have tighter-knit communities with higher engagement rates. As channels grow, the audience becomes broader and less personally connected, naturally lowering engagement percentages. This is normal and expected—focus on absolute engagement numbers as you scale.
End videos with specific questions to encourage comments and discussion. Questions like "What's your opinion on X?" generate 3-5x more comments than generic "let me know what you think" statements.
Content that sparks healthy debate naturally gets more comments. Comparison videos, "best of" lists, and opinion pieces tend to have higher engagement rates than purely educational content.
Engaging with your audience in the first 24 hours encourages more interaction. YouTube's algorithm also boosts videos with active comment sections, increasing visibility and engagement.
Explicitly ask viewers to like and comment if they found value. Simple CTAs like "Drop a comment if you've experienced this" increase engagement by 20-40%.
Pin a thought-provoking comment or question to the top of your comment section. This often sparks reply threads and increases overall engagement.
A good engagement rate depends on your channel size. Small channels (under 10K subs) should aim for 4-8%, medium channels (10K-100K) should target 3-6%, and large channels (100K+) typically see 1-3%. Anything above these benchmarks is excellent.
Calculate engagement rate by adding your likes and comments, dividing by total views, then multiplying by 100. For example, if a video has 1,000 views, 50 likes, and 10 comments, the engagement rate is ((50+10)/1000) × 100 = 6%.
Low engagement rates often result from broad audiences, passive content, or lack of clear calls-to-action. As channels grow, engagement rates naturally decline. Focus on creating more interactive content, asking specific questions, and actively responding to comments.
Yes, brands heavily prioritize engagement rate over subscriber count. An engagement rate above 5% can justify charging 20-30% more for sponsorships because it indicates an active, loyal audience that's more likely to convert. Use our brand deal calculator to see how engagement affects your rates.
The standard YouTube engagement rate formula uses only likes and comments because shares data isn't publicly visible in YouTube Analytics. However, if you have access to your shares data through YouTube Studio, including shares (likes + comments + shares) / views × 100 gives a more complete picture.
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