⏱️

YouTube Watch Time Calculator

Track cumulative watch time progress and estimate when you'll hit the 4,000-hour monetization threshold.

PRO FEATURE (FREE FOR NOW) Monetization

PRO FEATURE (FREE FOR NOW)

Analyze a real video or channel

Paste a video URL, channel URL/@handle, video ID, or channel ID — we'll pull its public views and duration and estimate watch hours from a retention assumption you choose.

Estimated retention

Watch-hour target

Channel duration filter

Free, no signup — public API data only. Real audience retention and official watch hours are visible only to the channel owner in YouTube Studio.

⏱️

Your watch-time estimate renders here.
Paste a video or channel above and hit analyze.

Calculate with your own assumptions

No lookup needed — enter expected views and either an average view duration or a video length + retention %.

Current watch hours

Watch-hour target

Expected / current views

Video length (minutes)

Retention %

Avg. view duration (min)

Avg. daily views

Videos / month

Avg. views / new video

How It Works

Paste a video or channel

Drop in a video URL, channel URL, @handle, or ID — no login required.

We pull public data

For a video: its view count and duration. For a channel: its most recent public uploads, each with views and duration.

You choose a retention assumption

Public APIs never expose real audience retention — you pick a percentage and we apply it to every video's view count × duration.

Compare scenarios

Conservative (25%), Realistic (40%), and Optimistic (55%) retention scenarios render side by side automatically.

📬

Free Newsletter

Get YouTube automation tips
delivered weekly.

Join 6,200+ automation creators getting real strategies, niche breakdowns, CPM reports, and tool updates every week — for free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the same as YouTube Studio's watch time? ▾

No. YouTube Studio shows your channel's actual, exact watch hours. This tool only sees public view counts and video durations, so it multiplies those by a retention percentage you choose — it's an estimate, not official data.

Why does channel mode only show recent uploads, not every video ever posted? ▾

Channel analysis walks the channel's public uploads playlist and video-statistics data in the same efficient batches a full analysis would use; very large or very old channels may not be fully covered in a single pass.

What retention percentage should I use? ▾

Most long-form videos retain 30-50% of their length on average. Shorts and highly-engaging content can be higher. Compare the Conservative/Realistic/Optimistic scenarios rather than trusting one number.

Do Shorts count toward the 4,000-hour threshold? ▾

YouTube Shorts watch time in the Shorts feed is tracked separately from long-form watch hours and may not count toward the traditional Partner Program watch-hour requirement. Use the duration filter to exclude short videos from a channel estimate.

Is this tool free to use? ▾

Yes, completely free with no signup, email, or login required.

Related Tools