Use the forecast as a planning aid

What you provide

The forecast starts with information available before publication. The following details are required:

• Planned video title
• YouTube category
• Expected duration
• Main audio language
• Channel URL, handle, or ID

Publishing day and hour are optional. If omitted, they remain unknown and are not replaced with assumed defaults.

How the estimate is prepared

1. ViewCastLK checks that the required planned details are present.
2. Relevant channel information and title context are added where available.
3. The forecast model estimates the view trajectory and breakout probability.
4. A separate idea-optimization service compares the submitted timing, duration, and format with evaluated historical patterns.
5. Each supported dimension is labelled as a change, an already aligned choice, or an exploratory benchmark. Only the first label requires the confidence and improvement rules to pass. Guidance never changes the model forecast.

How your information is used

You provide the details of the video you are planning, and relevant channel information is retrieved automatically. The title may be analysed to offer neutral planning guidance. The forecasting service uses the planned inputs to prepare the forecast. Separately, the idea optimizer checks the plan against within-channel Day-7 comparisons from the published EDA. Title language suggestions are not presented as measured performance improvements.

Important limitations

• Forecasts are estimates, not guarantees of future performance.
• Recommendations describe historical associations, not causal effects.
• No early engagement from the planned video is used.
• Private YouTube Analytics data is not used.
• Thumbnail and image features are not used.
• Revenue is not predicted.
• Subscriber growth is not predicted.
• ViewCastLK does not determine the location of individual viewers.
• ViewCastLK uses channels verified as Sri Lankan as a practical proxy for Sri Lankan content and audience patterns. Public data does not report the country of individual viewers, so this does not prove that every viewer is in Sri Lanka.
• Prediction intervals and confidence ranges are not part of the current release.
• Unexpected news, collaborations, external promotion, platform changes, and other events may cause actual performance to differ from the forecast.