Annotations Worth It?

Michael

Michael

I Love YTtalk
I have been thinking about this recently, for how long it takes us to put annotations on our videos is it worth it any more with the vast majority of viewers using mobile devices and not seeing them at all and a lot of the time having such low CTR. With such small percentages of viewers using computers to watch videos it would seem that unless they come to mobile devices soon people wont be willing to invest their time or less willing after uploading to annotate their videos, for me annotating is something I cant stand doing especially when theres a load of annotations to add.

I really hope they are coming soon, I have heard about the info cards but to me so far it sounds as if they will be unclickable mobile annotations which sort of defeats their purpose.

What are your thoughts on this, to annotate or to not? Do you still annotate? Do you see a decent CTR on them? Share your thoughts with us on this.

:D
 
No I personally don't do it. Do it for necessary follow ups and people are much likely to click on it. I even tried InVideo Programming to feature videos, but end up getting only few clicks. I feel like if anything it might end up annoy more people than help.
 
I still add annotations to the end of my videos to link to my past videos. Personally I've missed a couple of videos from my favorite YouTubers and when they link their videos at the end with a little preview, I often find myself clicking on it. I think it's a good way to promote your content and keep people around and watching your stuff. I don't have any statistics to prove that it's worthwhile though. :p
 
I do annotate my videos for end cards and occasional notes, but it is a real bummer that mobile users can't use it. If they brought annotations to mobile it could really increase call to action responses. Considering that they have added in video programming a while ago it would make sense for them to add annotations next. Loads of creators could benefit from it :D
 
I don't get too crazy with annotations but I'm definitively for them. Unless you are simply running out of time in the day (or have something better in mind for helping your channel) every little bit helps.
 
I only use annotations in my video's where i get the most subs(goddamn love analytics!). And i use In video programming too.
 
I make 30 second mini-movies to be used in my end-card annotations. This way I have a large ready-made library that I can pop in. I will put text in the thick black line such as Thanks For Watching, Instagram.com/RaceGrooves, Music By StackTraxx "Diesel", and Race Grooves - Toy Car Entertainment!

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But the question is, is it worth my time?

Overall views Last 28 days, 12 MM
Annotations clicked, less that 200K.

I view it as a way to keep people on my channel and keep my Watch Time up.

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YouTube developers have said that a good CTR for annotations is 4.5%, but it all depends on what kind of video it is and if there's some kind of incentive for people to click. Often on cross collaborations, we'll have annotation CTRs of 50% or more as people want to see the other video. Most end card CTRs are very low.

As for the info cards, they will be active on mobile devices. They are designed with mobile in mind. The big issue is that some of the features don't sit well on a PC interface.
 
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