Average View Time (VT)
Average View Time, or VT, measures how long people actually watch your video content.
Divide total watch time by total views. That is Average View Time: how long you hold people once they press play. It matters because time is the one thing an audience cannot fake. View counts measure starts. VT measures staying power.
Signal Type
Metric Role
Metric Type
The Formula
Worked example
Benchmarks and interpretation
Where the number actually comes from
When to use it
Common Mistakes
In the REACT framework
VT sits in the Engage phase, measuring attention in depth. VT is how much attention you earn, completion is how often you earn all of it. Reach decides who presses play. VT decides whether it was worth it.
Related metrics
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Average View Time?
Average View Time, or VT, measures how long people actually watch your video content. It measures the attention you actually held, in the one currency audiences cannot fake.
How do you calculate Average View Time?
Use the formula: VT = Total Duration of All Video Playback ÷ Total Video Views. Keep both inputs in the same reporting period and avoid mixing users, sessions, events, or customers unless the formula calls for it.
What data do you need for VT?
You need total video views and cumulative watch time, pulled from the relevant connected sources and computed for the same period.
What mistakes should you avoid with VT?
Avoid comparing raw seconds across different video lengths, and avoid mistaking autoplay time for attention. Muted autoplay seconds and chosen watching are different things wearing the same unit.
When should marketers use VT?
Use Average View Time when judging video content quality and deciding what to make more of. It separates videos that hold people from videos that merely start well.
What is a good VT?
Good depends on length and format: judge VT as a share of duration, not raw seconds. Thirty seconds held on a forty-second video is excellent. On a ten-minute one, it is a problem.
Sources and methodology. VT formula and definition derive from standard marketing analytics practice and platform reporting conventions. REACTIQ360 harmonises source data from Platform APIs, Content taxonomy, Harmonisation layer and applies a consistent same-period computation methodology.
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