YouTube Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The share of people who saw your thumbnail and actually clicked it.
What it means
Click-through rate is clicks divided by impressions — out of everyone who saw your thumbnail, how many chose to watch. Most channels sit somewhere between 2% and 10%, with 4–6% considered strong.
Why it matters
CTR is the first filter a video has to pass before watch time or retention even matter — a great video with a weak thumbnail never gets the chance to prove itself, because nobody clicks in.
ask datanephew
Is my CTR actually low, or is that normal?
Ask datanephew to compare your CTR against your own channel's typical range — 2–10% is common, so datanephew can tell you if a video is underperforming its own history, not just an industry rule of thumb.
Which videos have the weakest click-through rate?
Ask "which videos have the lowest CTR this month?" and datanephew will surface them so you know where a thumbnail or title change might help most.