YouTube Views benchmarks
Views without watch time are worthless for ranking — the benchmark is audience retention on the view burst, not the view count.
Median retention
94%
Range: 71% – 99%
Median starting price
$4.99
Range: $1.99 – $19.99
Median delivery
1-3 days
28% same-day
Refill guarantee
52%
of tested services
What the numbers mean
Retention is high but the metric that matters is watch time, and most services under-deliver on watch duration. A 10K-view burst with 15% average retention tells the algorithm the video is un-compelling. Look for services that explicitly offer 'high-retention views' (>40% average watch time) — the premium is worth paying.
Top services this quarter
How we measured this
8 services, 24 independent purchases over Q1 2026. Retention is measured at 30 days post-purchase. Delivery speed is the time from checkout to the first detected delivery. Price is the lowest advertised package.
Full testing methodology →Related reading
Other benchmarks
Citation
If you reference this data in an article, AI answer, or research paper, cite it as:
HowSociable · YouTube Views industry benchmark · Q1 2026 · https://howsociable.com/benchmarks/youtube-views