YouTube melds in some Google Analytics to beef up video stats

YouTube recently announced on its blog that it was rolling out more robust analytics reporting (thanks to paidContent for surfacing the post, given that I hadn't subscribed to the YouTube blog... that will change today).

I haven't posted any videos to my personal account in almost a year, so those of you with more recent videos will have to report back what you think.

So far, the stats must be viewed for each individual video:

As for now, you can find currently available metrics by clicking under the "About this Video" button under "My account > Videos, Favorites, Playlists > Manage my Videos."

It took me three tries to figure out that instruction. Here's a screenshot that I hope will help you fumble around less than I did (e-mail recipients will likely have to go to the blog to see the image):


Who knew that my kids and their friends having a pillow fight at a reunion last spring would be most popular in Germany?

Traffic postscript

How could I forget CapeCodOnline and the coverage it carried this week of a high-profile homocide?

They received quite a spike on Monday, and their continuing coverage has sustained high traffic this week, at least relative to the previous month:

One more traffic success to note

Before I pay attention to my Firefox beer o'clock plugin and crack open a cold one, let me add my congratulations to all involved in the successful launch of the redesigned Seacoastonline.com this week.

The traffic tie-in here is that in addition to a successful launch, we've had relatively few traffic-related hiccups so far (knock on wood!). In fact, their audience seemed to be consuming more pages than before -- certainly relative to last month -- as they learned their way around the new site:

Pocono: DJ, Rainbow and the bell

Speaking of traffic success this week, Pocono has been a nonstop hotbed of activity, especially on Wednesday. A local DJ decided to parrot the remark that got Don Imus in trouble, and in turn got himself fired.

• Story 1
• Story 2
  

The success was exciting from any number of angles. I was in Pocono on Wednesday, and Editor Bill Watson was spending most of his day managing the hundreds of forums posts that were streaming in all day, while the newsroom and online staff (all while I was working with a small group to answer their Saxotech and other questions and conducting the parenting guide brainstorming session... what a day for me to pick to plant myself in Stroudsburg!).

That also wasn't the only story. For those who have heard us cite the long-running Djinn Buckingham story as one of Pocono's early UGC success, wouldn't you know that Rainbow Buckingham herself became a part of Wednesday's updates. On any other day, it would have been the lead story, and the Pocono crew would have been happy for the spike.

Same is true for the late day story of a local bank taking itself public, punctuated by its CEO ringing the NASDAQ closing bell.

The result of all of that activity? Not your usual peaks and valleys. Instead, Pocono experienced a high-level of sustained traffic throughout the day:

What's better is that the audience activity has continued into today, thanks to strong follow-ups yesterday and today, the latter of which included a story about Howard Stern commenting on what was happening with the DJ in Stroudsburg.

(One suggestion, Marta... link all that DJ coverage together through the Saxotech internal links functionality, at the very least -- or is a landing page already in the works?)

Hudson Valley Media Group repeats April 12 page view success

On April 12th last year, the Hudson Valley crew received a nice traffic spike from their photo gallery and other coverage of the Villa Roma fire.

What to do an encore a year later? Kick off a Cutest Baby contest, of course:



When you pit the baby contest against the fire coverage, the babies are the winners:
The baby contest received 137,579 page views yesterday while the Villa Roma fire galleries received about 92,000 page views a year ago.