Publishing insights
What works on Sri Lankan YouTube
Patterns from tens of thousands of videos, each measured against its own channel's normal, so the advice applies whatever the size of your channel.
- Videos measured
- 93,305
- Sri Lankan channels
- 1,643
- Published
- 2 July 2026 to 1 October 2026
Your channel
How these patterns look on your own uploads
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01
Upload spacing
Give each upload some room
44% of uploads go up within an hour of another video from the same channel. Those videos got −4% views against their channel's normal. Videos with 6–12 hours before the channel's next upload got +8%.
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 hour | −4% | −9% to −2% | 43,792 | 670 |
| 1–3 hours | −2% | −10% to +11% | 7,687 | 603 |
| 3–6 hours | +3% | −3% to +10% | 4,724 | 599 |
| 6–12 hours | +8% | +1% to +16% | 5,584 | 683 |
| 12–24 hours | +7% | +4% to +11% | 11,530 | 1,149 |
| 1–2 days | +6% | +3% to +9% | 8,794 | 1,273 |
| 2 days or more | +1% | −1% to +4% | 10,684 | 1,555 |
Time until the same channel's next upload. A later upload cannot have affected when the earlier video was published, so this gap is the fairer measure. The gap since the previous upload shows the same pattern.
By channel size
Uploads followed by a day or more of quiet, compared with uploads followed by another within three hours. The difference is clearest for channels with 1K–10K, 10K–100K and 100K–1M subscribers. There is no clear effect for channels under 1K subscribers.
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1K | +1% | −7% to +11% | 4,657 | 303 |
| 1K–10K | +8% | +2% to +15% | 10,569 | 520 |
| 10K–100K | +19% | +10% to +30% | 11,291 | 562 |
| 100K–1M | +16% | +9% to +29% | 13,079 | 242 |
| 1M+ | +7% | −2% to +16% | 31,871 | 67 |
Try thisLeave at least six hours between uploads. If you have several clips ready, schedule them across the day instead of releasing them together.
02
Publishing time
Evening uploads do best
Videos published between 18:00–21:00 Sri Lanka time got +19% against their channel's normal (95% range +8% to +30%). The only window clearly below normal: 09:00–12:00 (−7%). Fewer videos go up overnight, so those bars are less certain.
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00–03:00 | −3% | −15% to +8% | 3,600 | 433 |
| 03:00–06:00 | −19% | −41% to +4% | 1,977 | 307 |
| 06:00–09:00 | −3% | −13% to +11% | 10,817 | 788 |
| 09:00–12:00 | −7% | −12% to −1% | 13,572 | 1,034 |
| 12:00–15:00 | −6% | −14% to +2% | 15,251 | 1,049 |
| 15:00–18:00 | −4% | −10% to +1% | 17,062 | 1,242 |
| 18:00–21:00 | +19% | +8% to +30% | 19,500 | 1,338 |
| 21:00–24:00 | +3% | −9% to +19% | 11,526 | 907 |
Day of the week
The day matters much less than the hour: every day is within 6% of the channel's normal.
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | +1% | −2% to +5% | 14,023 | 1,331 |
| Tuesday | −6% | −10% to −3% | 14,251 | 1,332 |
| Wednesday | −1% | −3% to +2% | 14,044 | 1,383 |
| Thursday | 0% | −3% to +4% | 13,358 | 1,348 |
| Friday | 0% | −3% to +5% | 13,490 | 1,347 |
| Saturday | +6% | +1% to +10% | 12,102 | 1,341 |
| Sunday | +2% | −4% to +7% | 12,037 | 1,326 |
Try thisAim for 18:00–21:00. Don't hold a finished video back just to hit a particular day.
03
Duration
Under four minutes? Make it a Short, or make it longer
In 5 of the 6 categories with enough data, regular (non-Shorts) videos under four minutes did clearly worse than their channel's normal, by 26% to 75%. They are the weakest length of all in 5 of them.
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shorts | +131% | +5% to +237% | 2,216 | 29 |
| Under 4 min | −25% | −31% to −16% | 17,942 | 35 |
| 4–8 min | +7% | −18% to +32% | 3,739 | 35 |
| 8–15 min | +8% | −1% to +24% | 2,932 | 42 |
| 15–30 min | +54% | −4% to +155% | 766 | 31 |
| 30–60 min | +526% | +215% to +1531% | 1,123 | 24 |
Lengths with fewer than the minimum videos or channels are left out rather than guessed. Grey bars have a 95% range that includes zero, so the data can't tell them apart from normal.
Try thisIf a regular video is coming in under four minutes, publish it as a Short or build it out into a fuller video.
04
Format
Shorts help smaller channels most
On the same channel, Shorts compared with regular videos. Shorts did clearly better on channels with under 1K, 1K–10K and 10K–100K subscribers. For channels with 100K–1M and 1M+ subscribers there is no clear difference.
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1K | +41% | +13% to +82% | 6,500 | 303 |
| 1K–10K | +55% | +32% to +84% | 16,123 | 521 |
| 10K–100K | +23% | +8% to +40% | 18,480 | 562 |
| 100K–1M | −6% | −17% to +4% | 17,865 | 242 |
| 1M+ | −10% | −59% to +71% | 34,337 | 67 |
By category
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| News & Politics | +143% | −2% to +268% | 29,189 | 55 |
| Education | 0% | −12% to +13% | 12,817 | 390 |
| Entertainment | −59% | −77% to −24% | 11,852 | 135 |
| Travel & Events | +86% | +51% to +138% | 7,590 | 284 |
| Music | +48% | +20% to +89% | 6,543 | 221 |
| People & Blogs | +27% | 0% to +97% | 5,074 | 125 |
| Gaming | +57% | +18% to +107% | 4,480 | 148 |
| Howto & Style | +8% | −6% to +30% | 2,823 | 108 |
| Sports | +39% | −2% to +118% | 2,242 | 65 |
| Autos & Vehicles | +43% | −6% to +141% | 2,216 | 85 |
| Comedy | +22% | −12% to +76% | 2,072 | 54 |
| Pets & Animals | +485% | +39% to +1176% | 1,993 | 53 |
| Film & Animation | −4% | −38% to +46% | 1,905 | 95 |
| Science & Technology | −11% | −32% to +10% | 1,809 | 89 |
YouTube counts a Shorts view each time a Short starts or replays, a looser count than for regular videos. More Shorts views do not mean more watch time or more revenue.
Try thisUnder 100K subscribers, cut Shorts from your longer videos as a way to reach new viewers.
05
After the first week
Know when a video has had its run
A typical video already has 96.8% of its day-30 views by day 7. That varies a lot by category. News & Politics is finished within a week (+0.8% afterwards), while a typical Science & Technology, Film & Animation and Nonprofits & Activism video gains another 15–20%.
| Group | Typical growth, day 7 to 30 | One in four grows more than | Videos still growing (10%+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science & Technology | +20.4% | +55% | 67% |
| Film & Animation | +18.2% | +55% | 67% |
| Nonprofits & Activism | +14.8% | +56% | 58% |
| Howto & Style | +14.6% | +41% | 59% |
| Music | +13.8% | +45% | 57% |
| Autos & Vehicles | +13.7% | +42% | 57% |
| Education | +12.1% | +38% | 54% |
| Comedy | +7.5% | +27% | 45% |
| Sports | +4.4% | +18% | 35% |
| Entertainment | +4.3% | +14% | 31% |
| Travel & Events | +4.0% | +19% | 35% |
| People & Blogs | +3.3% | +15% | 32% |
| Gaming | +3.3% | +16% | 34% |
| Pets & Animals | +1.2% | +13% | 28% |
| News & Politics | +0.8% | +3% | 9% |
By channel size
| Group | Typical growth, day 7 to 30 | One in four grows more than | Videos still growing (10%+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1K | +2.4% | +39% | 38% |
| 1K–10K | +5.9% | +31% | 43% |
| 10K–100K | +11.7% | +33% | 54% |
| 100K–1M | +4.1% | +17% | 35% |
| 1M+ | +1.3% | +5% | 16% |
Measured on 60,976 videos tracked to day 30. The biggest channels collect almost everything in the first week. Mid-sized channels keep growing longest.
Try thisJudge a News & Politics video at day 7, but give Science & Technology, Film & Animation, Nonprofits & Activism and Howto & Style videos the full month before deciding whether they worked.
06
Thumbnails
A face on the thumbnail is not a rule
On channels that sometimes show a face and sometimes don't, thumbnails with a face got −7% (95% range −14% to +2%). The direction depends on the category. They did clearly worse in Sports.
Show the numbers
| Group | Against normal | 95% range | Videos | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| News & Politics | −17% | −26% to +3% | 10,225 | 47 |
| Education | −1% | −9% to +7% | 3,893 | 270 |
| Entertainment | +12% | −12% to +40% | 3,890 | 66 |
| Travel & Events | −14% | −26% to +1% | 1,805 | 182 |
| Music | +12% | −2% to +29% | 1,783 | 138 |
| People & Blogs | +2% | −6% to +22% | 1,768 | 81 |
| Gaming | +4% | −12% to +24% | 1,252 | 98 |
| Howto & Style | −1% | −17% to +16% | 772 | 69 |
| Sports | −19% | −36% to −1% | 676 | 44 |
| Autos & Vehicles | −13% | −34% to +16% | 670 | 54 |
| Comedy | +20% | −1% to +53% | 638 | 43 |
| Pets & Animals | −12% | −30% to +23% | 553 | 30 |
| Film & Animation | +18% | 0% to +45% | 536 | 52 |
| Science & Technology | −14% | −39% to +18% | 447 | 50 |
Based on 29,139 thumbnails collected for our analysis. YouTube serves a changed thumbnail from the same address, so some images may not be the ones the videos launched with. The face detector also misses small and side-on faces. Brightness, contrast, colour and text on the thumbnail showed no link with which of a channel's videos did better.
Try thisDon't add a face just because thumbnail guides say so. Look at what works in your category, and compare both styles on your own channel.
07
Method
How these were measured
- Each video's day-7 views are compared with the average for its own channel, using only channels with at least 5 measured videos.
- The 95% ranges come from resampling whole channels, because videos from one channel are not independent of each other.
- A group is shown only with at least 300 videos from 20 channels.
- These are patterns in past videos, not proof of cause. A channel that posts many clips at once may also be posting lighter content, for example.
- Only Sri Lankan channels published between 2 July 2026 and 1 October 2026 are included, so seasonal effects such as festivals are not covered.
Figures computed 2 October 2026.