2013 YouTube Study

How long should my videos be?  How often should I upload? How many words should I put in the video description to optimize for search?  These and many more questions are asked by online media creators and brands every day.  In the Spring of 2013 a group of undergraduate students in the Internet and Mobile Media Concentration at Columbia College in Chicago (colum.edu/tv) explored best practices in using the YouTube platform by studying the approaches taken by its most successful users.  The study focused on analyzing YouTube channels that succeeded in growing largest recurring audiences (most subscribed).  If you aspire to build a popular YouTube channel for your internet show or build a brand presence on this platform, we hope you find this document to be a useful guide.