Best Time to Post on YouTube in 2024 [Updated]

YouTube has become an unparalleled platform for businesses and creators to connect with a massive audience, paving the way for immense growth and success. With over 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube offers many opportunities to captivate viewers, build brand awareness, and drive engagement.

For businesses like yours, the success of the YouTube campaign depends on various factors, including the timing of the content. While relevance and quality precede recency, posting when your audience is most active can still boost your video’s visibility.

In this blog, we have highlighted the best times to post on YouTube that can work wonders for you. We also help you discover your ideal posting times, make informed decisions, and improve your YouTube strategy.

Let’s dive in!

Best Time to Post on YouTube

The best time to post on YouTube is between is between 2 pm to 4 pm (EST) on weekdays and between 9 to 11 am (EST) on weekends. We’ve reached this conclusion after monitoring the engagement of over 50,000 accounts across various industries and locations.

Apart from the optimal time, you can dive into SocialPilot’s study, which breaks down the average good times to post throughout the week.

The Best Time to Post on YouTube on Monday

The best time to post on YouTube on Monday is 2 pm to 4 pm.

Monday is one of the busiest days of the week, with people going back to work and students going to their classes. The window for leisure is limited at best, so Monday is not a good day to post on YouTube.

The Best Time to Post on YouTube on Tuesday

The best time to post on YouTube on Tuesday is between 2 pm and 4 pm.

Following in the footsteps of Monday, the second weekday too proves to be an unpopular choice for YouTube posting. However, posting on these time frames can help get more engagement.

The Best Time to Post on YouTube on Wednesday

The best time to post on YouTube on Wednesday is between 2 pm to 4 pm.

We hate to break it to you, but the first three days of the week keep people busy and away from scrolling their social media feeds. While you can expect a slow engagement event on Wednesday, the suggested tile slot can attract more visitors.

The Best Time to Post on YouTube on Thursday

The best time to post on YouTube on Thursday is between 2 pm and 4 pm.

The later part of the week proves to be way more conducive to publishing videos on the platform, as people are more likely to be bored with their daily routine and go to their social feeds to scroll.

The Best Time to Post on YouTube on Friday

The best time to post on YouTube on Friday is between 2 pm to 4 pm.

Fridays are one of the best days to post on YouTube as people are starting their weekends and ready for some rest and entertainment.

The Best Time to Post on YouTube on Saturday

The best time to post on YouTube on Saturday is between 9 am to 11 am.

Even Saturdays garner many active views and engagement for newly published videos. As opposed to posting during the afternoon on weekdays, posting during these hours ensures greater engagement. This gives the audience ample time to discover the video and drive it forward.

The Best Time to Post on YouTube on Sunday

The best time to post on YouTube on Sunday is between 9 am to 11 am.

However, you can post at any time of the day on weekends as the bulk of the audience is online and actively scrolling through their YouTube feeds, especially earlier in the morning, when they are yet to make any plans for the day.

Since the above posting times have been calculated after accounting for indexing time, it is obvious that the average actual peak time is in the evening.

This insight becomes more interesting when you realize that most people use YouTube during typical TV-watching time. Isn’t that a win for streaming?

Best Time to Post on YouTube Shorts

The best time to post on YouTube Shorts is during peak hours from 12 pm to 3 pm and from 7 pm to 10 pm. This is particularly applicable on Monday and Tuesday. We’ve reached this conclusion after monitoring the engagement of over 50,000+ accounts across various industries and locations.

We are sure that the findings shared above will help you in your ongoing search for the ideal posting times.

Other related studies:

• The best time to post on Instagram
• The best time to post on Twitter
• The best time to post on Facebook
• The best time to post on Linkedin
• The best time to post on TikTok

The average time frames can be a good start before you set out to test for your personal best time to post YouTube videos. There is a fair chance that these fixed times may work wonders for your brand on YouTube.

Why Is the Right Time to Post on YouTube Different?

Unlike other social media networks, the best time to post on YouTube has different math behind it.

On social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, the minute you publish a video, it takes its place in the feed of your followers.

The case is not the same for YouTube.

YouTube, just like Google, takes time to index your video. Simply put, once you upload your video, YouTube takes time to understand and process it before unleashing it on people’s home screens or search results.

Therefore, it is standard practice to publish 2-3 hours before the perceived best time to upload YouTube videos for you. So by the time your audience comes online, the video will be well-placed in their search results.

For instance, if your best time to post on YouTube turns out to be between 7 and 10 pm, then you need to post between 2 and 4 pm.

But all this wisdom comes in handy when you know the best time to upload to YouTube. Let’s find that out, Shall we?

How to Find the Best Time to Upload Video on YouTube?

Now that you are well-equipped with the average best time to post on YouTube, it is time to find the right time specifically for your YouTube channel.

How do you do that?

The easiest way to find the optimal time is by looking at the recently introduced ‘When your viewers are on YouTube’ report.

Let’s go through the step-by-step process to learn the best time frames that can help you make the most of your YouTube video efforts.

Step 1: Access the Analytics section

Firstly, head to the YouTube studio.

On your channel dashboard, find the Analytics section in the left-hand side menu. Click on it to access tons of data to understand your Page’s performance.

But we are looking for a specific graph. You will find it in the “Audience” tab of the “Analytics” section.

You will see a purple bar graph. That’s our destination. Now the next step is to assess it.

On the other hand, if you don’t see the graph under this section, it is because your channel didn’t gain enough viewer data in the last 28 days.

But don’t worry, later in the article, we will discuss the ways to find out the best time to post videos on YouTube without the help of the audience graph.

For now, let’s continue with the further steps.

Step 2: Find the Best Day and Time to Post

The “Where to find your audience” graph shows you the data for the last 28 days and is based on your time zone.

The dark purple bars in the graph indicate the timings on a specific day when most of your audience is present on YouTube.

Similarly, the lighter bars indicate the times when the presence of the audience is the lowest.

So basically, these reports tell you the time when most of your audience is present on YouTube to watch your videos.

It is helpful because the best time to post on YouTube is when most of your audience is live to see your video. If you post keeping these times in your mind, your video will appear on the home page when the most audience is present.

Unlike other social platforms, you can’t post on YouTube every day, given the time it takes to make a single video. So you need to choose the best day to post on YouTube based on your preferences.

What to do if you have multiple dark bars throughout the week?

In such a case, pick a day with a shade lighter purple bars that comes near your main day. It has been seen that videos tend to get most of their views in the first 2 days. So, it’s better to align your posting with the two peak days.

For instance, in the above example, Friday has the darkest bar, and Thursday stands second. Now posting on Thursday will also get you a view of Friday. But posting on Friday will get you the views of Saturday, which is clearly a bad day according to the graph.

How to Find the Best Time to Post on YouTube without the Audience Report?

Alright, you are new on YouTube or don’t have enough daily flux of audience for the “When your viewers are on YouTube” report to appear. How do you find your best time?

By crunching some numbers manually.

You will find another section in YouTube analytics, inside the ‘Overview’ tab called ‘Real time’ on the right-hand side.

It provides the number of views you have got in each hour within the time frame of the last 48 hours.

I’d recommend tracking this data for a month or quarter in a spreadsheet to spot the pattern of views across a week. This way, you will be able to find what day and time your audience remains the most active.

Also, you can use the average best time to post data we discussed in the beginning to kickstart the tracking process. See if the universal time works for your niche or not.

But how are you going to take care of so many posting times? We have a solution. Keep reading.

How to Stay Consistent on Multiple Best Times to Post?

Consistent posting is part and parcel of every marketer’s job. Yet, it remains a distant dream for most of them. With multiple best times to post on YouTube at your disposal, it gets hectic to test out every time and choose the best one.

For one YouTube channel, it’s okay, but imagine testing out times for multiple YouTube accounts while dealing with other social networks as well; it sends chills down the spine.

This is where SocialPilot comes to your rescue!

A one-stop solution to schedule your YouTube videos, shorts, and content on other platforms way ahead.

Take advantage of its scheduling feature to A/B test the best times so that you can find the perfect time for your audience.

Apart from A/B testing the best times for your YouTube Channel, SocialPilot also comes in handy when you need to automate scheduling to post multiple times.

All social media marketers know that a social media automation tool can work wonders, from helping you post in different formats to posting on various accounts at different times.

SocialPilot also has multiple other features that can save you time, especially if you are an agency, social, or digital marketer.

Why don’t you try it yourself for free?

Wrapping Up

Video marketing is not easy. The excruciating amount of effort and time it takes to export a single video is a lot.

That’s why it’s important to turn every stone that can get your hard-made video its due success, including finding the best time to post on YouTube.

With the methods discussed above and the findings of our study on over 50,000 YouTube accounts, you will find the best time to post YouTube shorts as well as videos.

So take inspiration from general popular time, analyze your data with YouTube analytics, and kickstart your successful YouTube marketing.

Keep in mind that posting at the best time is just one factor in getting you in the spotlight. Consider it more as a chance to show the high-quality content you have tailored. In the end, it all comes down to one thing – creating quality content for your audience.

Don’t forget to use SocialPilot to schedule your YouTube videos and shorts to boost your YouTube marketing results.