Debunking Click-Through-Rate: You’ve Been Lied To

Why getting a high CTR is not what you might think…

Jan 26, 2022

Dear Creator Nation,

I never know how to start these newsletters so let me get straight to the point: I hate confusion. Seriously. Fancy words, complicated concepts, and unclear instructions rub me the wrong way. Unsurprisingly, I love clarity and simplicity. It’s part of the reason why I love writing this newsletter: the creator economy is consumed by jargon like “the algorithm,” “funnels,” and “traffic” that don’t translate well for regular folk. At AMA, our job is to cut through the clutter and deliver strategies that are straight to the point.

This week’s newsletter is in collaboration with our bestie Jade Darmawangsa and her newsletter Creative Block, the newsletter reporting on the hottest news in the creator economy. They spill the tea on the coolest business moves from other creators, staying on top of platform trends and features, and navigating web3. Sit back, get a snack, and let's nerd out on recent news and creator economy memes.

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One of these creator buzzwords, Click-Through-Rate (CTR), is a term commonly thrown around in the internet economy, yet it’s rarely discussed properly. What does it mean? Is it good if CTR is high? Most importantly, what steps do YouTubers take depending on their CTR?

First of all, CTR refers to the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who viewed that link. For YouTubers, CTR is the percentage of impressions (viewers) that turn into video views.

You may be thinking: well, this means that a higher click through rate is a good thing. If more people click on my video, I’ll get more views! Not so fast my young padawan…

We also assumed that CTR and video performance would be positively correlated. But, after scrutinizing the data more closely, we discovered that CTR and video engagement are inversely correlated. Yup, you read that right.

CTR is highest when views and impressions are lowest and vice versa. Take a look at Ali’s charts below: when engagement rises, CTR falls, and when engagement slides, CTR climbs.

Views

CTR

This might seem counterintuitive at first, but think about it from YouTube’s perspective. If a video performs well, YouTube will introduce it to new viewers. Because the video is now being introduced to new viewers, a smaller percentage of viewers will click on your video, generating a lower CTR. The opposite is true as well: If YouTube thinks your video is bad, they will only show it to people who they know are going to click on it, resulting in a higher CTR.

→ High Engagement = Low CTR; Low Engagement = High CTR

So, what should we make of this? Well, as a general rule of thumb, CTR isn’t nearly as helpful as it seems and needs to be considered in the context of other metrics. In short, though, YouTubers should aim for a high CTR on videos with high views. To achieve that, YouTubers should first observe their own numbers on YouTube Studio. To do this:

First, sign in to YouTube Studio
From the left Menu, select Analytics
From the top Menu, select Reach
From here, click the second option called “Impressions click-through-rate”

From there it’s all about designing attractive and catchy thumbnails and video titles. We’re going to be writing future newsletters on how to maximize CTR, but for now check out our piece on optimizing thumbnails: