What is YouTube Studio: A Comprehensive Guide

YouTube is a place for everyone. Regardless of what a viewer’s preferences are, YouTube will always have something for everybody—from tutorials, reviews, ASMR videos, and a lot more. For anyone wanting to build an audience, drive growth, or promote a business, YouTube is the place to be and YouTube Studio is the tool to use. So, whether you’re a brand or an aspiring YouTube creator, understanding what is YouTube studio and how it works will help you manage your channel efficiently and become more successful.

What is YouTube Studio

It is necessary for YouTube content creators to be able to manage their channels efficiently and keep track of their progress. Fortunately, YouTube saw this need and responded promptly with YouTube Studio as the solution. YouTube has always been quick-witted in developing tools and features that creators can benefit from, such as this studio and Superchat.

If you want to know what is YouTube Studio and how you can maximize it for your channel and content, then you better stick around until the end of this article.

What is YouTube Studio?

And what is difference between YouTube and YouTube Studio? YouTube is the platform where your content is found, while YouTube Studio, formerly known as YouTube Creator Studio, is a tool that allows you to manage your channel and content, analyze your channel’s earnings and performance, monetize by placing ads on your videos, and other significant features.

YouTube Studio is similar to Google Analytics but is mainly for your YouTube channel. To navigate to YouTube Studio via PC, you simply have to go to YouTube, click your name icon found on the top-right corner, click on YouTube Studio on the dropdown menu, and explore the studio by browsing the tabs on the left side of the screen. If you’re on mobile, you can download the app.

What Can You Accomplish in YouTube Studio?

Now that you already know what is YouTube studio, the next you’d want to learn are the different things you can accomplish using the studio. Before you can decide on maximizing or taking full advantage of the studio, you will have to know what it offers and what is YouTube Studio’s key features.

Analytics

One of YouTube Studio’s primary features is analytics. The analytics allow you to check on how well your channel’s performance is doing, analyze your audience, views, engagement, and impressions, as well as your videos’ playback time and subscriber information.

To access your analytics, go to the statistics section of the YouTube dashboard on the left side of your device’s screen. Monitoring your analytics is one crucial aspect of achieving your success as a brand or a YouTube creator.

There are two important metrics that affects how YouTube rank content: watch time and audience retention. Hence, keep track of how long viewers watch your videos as well as how many viewers watch your videos until the end. If after 15 seconds, the viewer doesn’t stop watching your video, YouTube will then measure how many people stuck around to finish the video.

Channel Management

While YouTube studio only allows you to monitor the logged-in account, you can easily switch between your other accounts by logging in and clicking your image on the upper-right corner of the screen. A menu, will then, pop up and will give you the option to switch accounts.

Video Management

One of the best things about YouTube Studio is that it allows you to edit and upload your videos. Aside from that, you can also schedule the publishing time and date. Although its editing features are not as advanced as other editing tools, it enables you to do basic editing, such as merging frames, adding cuts and a final screen, blurring, placing video elements, and adjusting the audio.

Furthermore, YouTube Studio allows you to easily upload videos. While you can do it via mobile, it is recommended that you upload from a computer to lessen the occurrence of possible glitches.

Multiple-User Access

If there are other managers on your YouTube channel, you can give them access through YouTube Studio. To enable this feature, you will have to access the “Permissions” tab located in the Settings menu. Then, click on “Manage Permissions” and invite others.

Playlist Designing

To keep your content organized and to make it easier for your viewers to surf through your channel, you can categorize your content with a playlist. To create a playlist, you simply have to enter “Lists” and click on “New Playlist.”

Comment Management

One of the most useful features of YouTube Studio is comment management. A few rude comments here and there are inevitable. Thankfully, you can filter the comments that appear on your channel. While you have the option to allow all comments, you can have them go through comment moderation before they get published. Otherwise, you can just disable commenting completely (which is not recommended if you want to foster a great relationship with your audience).

Video Subtitling

If you want to internationally increase the reach of your YouTube channel and content, you will have to cater to the language of other users from different countries. To do this, you will have to add subtitles in the languages of countries where you or your brand is present and the countries or markets you’re planning to break into. Fortunately, YouTube Studio makes this very easy for you.

Creator Insider Access

YouTube Studio has a news channel called the Creator Insider. You can check out Creator Insider if you want to get the latest updates on feature upgrades of both YouTube and YouTube Studio. It pays to check the channel from time to time so you will be on top of the latest YouTube Studio developments.

Channel Hiding

If you’re just starting out on YouTube and nobody knows who you are yet, it is understandable that you only upload a few content. Additionally, it will take a lot of time for you to create enough content to poke the interest of your target audience, and because of that, it is recommended that you hide your channel until you have produced enough content. Fortunately, YouTube Studio allows you to do this.

All you have to do is enter “Settings,” then go to “Channel” and “Advanced Settings.” Once you’ve done this, you will have to choose “Remove content from your channel” and you will have the option to either delete or just hide your channel from other users.

How Do You Use YouTube Studio?

Now that you already know the different features you can enjoy on YouTube Studio, let us run through some of the studio’s sections and what you can find in them:

Dashboard

The dashboard is YouTube Studio’s home page, and you can use this to to check your channel’s performance from time to time. You can specifically track your channel’s recent comments, performance metrics, guidelines violations, and the latest YouTube news. Best of all, the dashboard’s interface is very friendly to use!

Content Tab

The content tab, previously known as the video manager, is where you will turn to for all things related to your videos. In this tab, you can see a list of your uploaded videos both hidden and public, enable monetization features, and optimize your video’s key elements for more growth. Here is one of the features you can enjoy in the Content Tab:

Optimizing Videos

You can edit and optimize how your uploaded YouTube videos are displayed to better navigate YouTube’s algorithm. To do this, open your Content Tab and hover your cursor over a video until you see the pen icon. Then, click on the icon to access the video editor. In the video editor screen, you can customize your videos’ details to help YouTube rank them and get more audience to watch them.

Analytics Tab

You can do a lot of things in this tab, such as researching different topics with high search volume and the most popular videos under a particular topic. Aside from that, you can also track your channel, audience, and content insights, including watch hours, views, subscribers, impressions, average view duration, unique viewers, old and new viewers, your viewer’s activities and demographics, and a lot more!

Comments Tab

Here, you can see data related to the comments on your videos. You can apply a filter to make it easier for you to go through the comments and check the status. You can filter according to the comment’s status, type of comment, type of subscribers, and subscriber count.

Earn Tab

If you want to monetize your YouTube videos, you may do so in this tab. You may opt to monetize all of your videos or just a few ones, depending on whether you’re on YouTube for pure entertainment or you want to generate revenue from your content. You can also activate the video you want to monetize and choose the “On” or “Off” option from the menu found in the Content Tab.

However, to be able to monetize your channel, you must become a YouTube Partner. Some of the requirements include having a subscriber count of at least 1,000, 4,000 watch hours over the past 12 months, no community strikes or violations on your YouTube channel, a linked AdSense account, and living in a country where the program is available. So, aside from learning what is YouTube Studio, you can also benefit from learning about YouTube Partner Program.

You can maximize certain tools, like video streaming, if you’re using YouTube Studio Desktop. You can access the YouTube Desktop Site even on a mobile phone simply by signing into YouTube Studio in your Chrome browser, and selecting the browser’s desktop version option.

Is YouTube Studio For Free?

By now, you might already be pumped to start a YouTube channel, become a creator, and enjoy YouTube Studio, but you ask, “is YouTube Studio for free?” Yes! YouTube Studio is completely free. Anybody with a channel or a YouTube account may use YouTube Studio. You can also download the app on the Play Store and App Store.

What is the subscriber requirement for YouTube Studio?

Unlike the YouTube Partner Program, YouTube Studio doesn’t require a set number of subscribers for you to enjoy its features. Hence, even if you’re just starting out with very little to no subscribers at all, you can already use YouTube Studio.

Grow your channel with YouTube Studio

According to statistics, there are 2,527 billion Youtube users, making it one of the best platforms for content creators as well as startups and big businesses. Whether you are an aspiring influencer or a startup brand wanting to increase brand awareness, you can start with YouTube. However, contrary to what others think, starting on YouTube is never easy, and growth doesn’t happen overnight.

Knowing that the platform is filled with a myriad of creators, managing your YouTube channel and making your content stand out will seem like a rat race. Fortunately, you can gradually grow your channel, gain subscribers, and earn revenue through the help of YouTube Studio and, of course, by putting in your best effort all the time.

Now that you know what is YouTube Studio, you may also check out other tools. If you have social media accounts, aside from YouTube, you may use third-party social media management and optimization tools. Check out these tools in our Sprout Social review and Sociality.io review.