If you’re a YouTube creator, YouTube Studio is your golden ticket to a more effective channel. What does YouTube Studio do? This platform is your one-stop-shop to upload and edit videos, view analytics, respond to comments, build and manage playlists, and adjust settings. Below, get a glimpse into all the features of the tool and a step-by-step guide for how to use YouTube Studio. 

What Is YouTube Studio? 

YouTube Studio is YouTube’s channel management tool. It contains a wide range of features and tools to help you effectively manage your channel, from reviewing the analytics of each video to monetizing your content. 

You can access YouTube Studio on your web browser, but there are also YouTube Studio apps available for Apple and Android devices, so you can manage your channel from any device.

youtube
The dashboard of YouTube Studio shows an overview of channel analytics and news from YouTube. 

Is YouTube Studio Free? 

The platform is loaded with so many features and tools, you might be wondering: Is YouTube studio free? Fortunately, YouTube Studio is a free tool that is available to anyone with a YouTube account. 

YouTube Studio Features

What does YouTube Studio do? Nearly anything a content creator could need. Below, we explore some of the most beneficial YouTube Studio features. 

Content Management

In the Content tab of the platform, you can upload and manage your YouTube videos and live streams. If you’re an established YouTuber, you might have a lot of videos. This tool makes it easy to sort through your content by name, date published, or the number of views, comments, or likes. 

From this view, you can also manage each individual video. By navigating to the video’s Detail page, you can edit the basic elements of the video, including the title, description, and thumbnail, and dive into the video’s individual analytics and comments. 

Make Better Videos!

Storytelling through Film: How to Create Engaging Videos for YouTube

Playlists

Playlists are a great way to organize your videos, feed a constant stream of relevant content to your viewers, and increase your overall watch time. From this tab in YouTube Studio, you can add and manage playlists. 

youtube studio playlists
Use YouTube Studio to create playlists of related videos. 

Analytics

Monitoring the performance of your channel and individual videos can give you insight into what your viewers like to see and what you can change to better engage them. In the Analytics section of YouTube Studio, you can access data collected into four tabs:

  • Overview: Includes number of views, total watch time, and number of subscribers
  • Reach: Information on impressions (how often thumbnails of your videos were shown on YouTube) as well as traffic sources 
  • Engagement: Top videos, as well as stats around watch time and average view duration
  • Audience: Insight into your viewers and subscribers, including age, gender, and location

Comment Management

Interacting with your subscribers via comments is a key component of managing your brand or business, but as your channel grows, it can become difficult to engage with hundreds of comments (or more!) per video. In the comments section, you can view, manage, and respond to comments left on your videos. You can filter comments by certain words or phrases, review pending comments, remove comments, report spam, and reply to comments—all in one place. 

Subtitles

As a YouTube creator, it’s important to make your videos accessible, so as many people as possible can consume and enjoy your content. In the subtitles section of YouTube studio, you can add subtitles to your videos. There are several ways to do this, from uploading a pre-written file to using auto-translate. You may have to experiment to find the method that you prefer, but it will be well worth the effort. 

Monetization Tools

For many YouTubers, monetization is an important aspect of channel management. In the monetization tab, you can access tools that will allow you to earn revenue from your videos. If you aren’t yet part of the YouTube Partner Program, this tab will show a dashboard of progress toward qualification, which includes 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Once you qualify, you can turn on ads for your videos and select the types of ads you want to run. 

youtube studio
IIn the channel monetization tab, you can enable video ads and access other monetization options.  

Customization Features

In the Customization tab, you can change the appearance of your YouTube channel. This includes branding elements, like your profile picture, banner image, video watermark, channel name, and channel description. You can also organize your videos into featured sections and add a featured video for current subscribers and channel trailer for people who haven’t yet subscribed to your channel. 

Audio Library

In the audio library, you can search for and find royalty-free music and sound effects for your videos. By clicking the star next to an audio file, you can save it as a favorite, so it’s easy to access for future videos. 

The library makes it easy to see which audio files require attribution (which means you have to credit the artist in your video description). If you prefer to use audio files that don’t require attribution, you can easily create a filter to search for “Attribution not required.” 

youtube audio library
In YouTube Studio’s audio library, you can find royalty-free music to include in your videos. 

How to Use YouTube Studio

1. Log In to Your Account

Log in to YouTube, but pay attention that you’re on the correct account. You may, for example, have both a personal login and a business or brand channel. To toggle between accounts, go to your avatar at the top right of the page, and click Switch Account. 

2. Navigate to YouTube Studio

Click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the page, and click YouTube Studio. Or, go to studio.youtube.com. This will bring you to your channel dashboard. 

3. View the Dashboard 

The initial dashboard view will give you quick insights into your channel. You’ll be able to see, for example, metrics on your most recent video compared to your typical video performance, a few key channel analytics (current number of subscribers, top videos from the last 48 hours, and watch time and number of views over the past 28 days), and any known YouTube issues. You can also use the buttons in the top right corner to take a few quick actions, including uploading a video or going live. 

4. Manage Videos 

To manage your videos, go to the Content tab on the left toolbar. There, you will find a list of all your videos and live streams. To edit a particular video, hover over the video thumbnail, and you’ll see four icons, which will allow you to edit video details, access video-level analytics, review video comments, and more. To categorize videos into playlists, use the Playlists tab. 

5. Monitor Your Channel’s Performance

Under the Analytics tab, you can monitor the performance of your channel and individual videos. When you first navigate to Analytics, you’ll see an overview page. To see the analytics of an individual video, use the search bar at the top of the page (labeled “Search across your channel”). As you type in the search bar, videos will populate in a dropdown menu—simply click on the video you’d like to see analytics for. 

The analytics tool allows you to view data for different date ranges, from the past week to the lifetime of your channel. To look at long-term performance trends, it’s generally best to look at date ranges of 90 or more days. 

6. Monetize Your Content

If you’re interested in monetizing your content, YouTube Studio makes it easy. In the Monetization tab, you can manage a variety of revenue sources, including ads, memberships, and merchandise. 

By clicking into each video, you can manage that video’s ads individually. YouTube gives you the option to choose the type of ad (e.g., display ads, overlay ads, skippable video ads) and the location of the ad (e.g., before the video, during the video, or after the video). 

Level Up Your YouTube Channel 

It’s never been easier to manage your YouTube channel like a pro. YouTube Studio provides all the tools you need to manage, organize, and monetize your videos so you can take your channel to the next level. 

Boost Your Following!

YouTube Success: Build an Authentic Channel That's Worth the Follow

Written By

Katie Wolf

  • Click here to share on Twitter
  • Click here to share on Facebook
  • Click here to share on LinkedIn
  • Click here to share on Pinterest