Traffic from External Websites for a Video

This query provides analytics data about external websites that drive traffic to a specific video from your channel. It helps understand which external sources are referring viewers to your content and how those viewers engage with your video.

Example Output

Parameters

Dimension

The dimension is set to "Traffic Source Detail" which provides the specific external websites that are referring traffic to your video.

Start Date

The beginning date for fetching analytics data in format YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2024-01-01).

• Cannot be in the future.

End Date

The end date for fetching analytics data in format YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2024-09-30).

• Cannot be in the future.
• Must be after Start Date.

Tip: For scheduled requests, you may need to update the date daily. Instead of specifying the date manually, you can use 'today' or 'yesterday' as the parameter. When the request runs, the date will automatically adjust to the desired day.

IDs

Specifies the channel for which to retrieve data.

• Options:
  • "channel==MINE": Fetches data for your own channel.
  • "channel==CHANNEL_ID": Retrieves data for a specific channel you own.

Sort (Optional)

Determines the order of results:

• Examples:
  • "-views" for sorting by views in descending order.
  • "-estimatedMinutesWatched" for sorting by watch time in descending order.
  • "-averageViewDuration" for sorting by average view duration in descending order.

Tip: You can find the technical names of the metrics you can sort by when you click on the chart symbol at the bottom of the Parameters section.

Filters

The filter must include two parts:

• Video specification: "video==VIDEO_ID"
  • Replace VIDEO_ID with the ID of your video
• Traffic source type: "insightTrafficSourceType==EXT_URL"
• Combined using semicolon: "video==VIDEO_ID;insightTrafficSourceType==EXT_URL"

Maximum Results

Enter a number between 1 and 200 to control the number of results returned (default is 10).

Columns

• Dimension: The URL or domain name of the external website referring traffic to your video.

• Views: Total number of video views that came from each external website.

• Estimated Minutes Watched: The estimated total number of minutes that viewers who found your video through each external website spent watching.

• Average View Duration: Average length of time viewers who found your video through each external website spent watching, measured in minutes.

Notes

• Results are filtered to show only external website traffic for the specified video
• Understanding external traffic sources can help:
  • Identify successful external promotion channels
  • Guide future content distribution strategies
  • Build relationships with websites that frequently share your content
  • Optimize embedding and sharing strategies
• External traffic includes views from:
  • Blogs and websites
  • Forums and discussion boards
  • Social media platforms (when accessed via web)
  • Educational and reference websites
  • Any non-YouTube webpage embedding or linking to your video