Best Time to Post YouTube Shorts: Unlock the Ultimate Financial Potential

Posting YouTube Shorts is not about hitting upload and praying it goes viral; it’s more about analyzing what works for your channel and what the preferred content type is.

As in the world of short-form content, timing is everything; it can make or break your reach. You may have the perfect hook, ultimate concept, and most aesthetic edit, but if you post at the wrong time, it will not get an initial boost with quick interactions.

So, now you must be wondering how to figure out what is the best time to post YouTube Shorts. Stick around till the end, as we’ll be breaking down everything in this guide that you need to know.

What is the Best Time to Post YouTube Shorts?

Based on our interaction with Asia’s No. 1 YouTuber, we learned that the best time to post YouTube Shorts is typically between 3 PM and 6 PM on weekdays.

Other than this, if you’re looking forward to posting on weekends, 10 AM to 1 PM is the ultimate time slot for you to drop the outstanding YouTube Shorts and gain captivated attention from the audience.

Now you must be wondering how we are so sure that this time slot is a huge hit? For that reason, take a quick look at the section below to grasp the underlying theory behind these.

1. Weekday Peak 

While there’s a general perception roaming in the industry that posting on weekdays isn’t going to help you fetch better reach, let’s look at it the other way, by our interpretation.

If a major proportion of your audience is corporate employees, they will probably check their phones mainly during lunch breaks or tea breaks. So the prime time to post for you would be around 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, bringing you the utmost attention from them.

2. Weekend Viewing 

We all know about weekend viewing – it’s an unsaid rule to doomscroll your Instagram and YouTube feed for hours during weekends. So, make the utmost benefit of this universal habit and post your content on weekends during early afternoon or late at night, which would be around 1 PM to 2 PM and 8 PM to 10 PM.

3. Consider Audience

If you don’t know your audience demographics well, it’s tough to fetch higher reach; no matter how top-notch your strategy is, it won’t bring out the best potential. 

So, to boost your account, you need to consider your target audience’s time zones and when they’re most likely to be online. For example, if your core audience is students, evenings, and weekends would be an ideal time for you to post.

4. Identify Your Best Time

This is something that most people overlook: the ‘best time’ varies from channel to channel and audience to audience. So, make sure to analyze your account and find the suitable ‘best time’ tailored to your audience and content type.

Additionally, it is recommended to monitor your analytics and decipher your own best time tailored to your core audience and content type.

Best Time to Post on YouTube – Videos and YouTube Shorts

Regardless of what you’re posting, whether it’s long-format videos or shorts, decoding the posting time is the need of the hour. So, let’s understand which time works for each:

Days of the Week	YouTube’s Peak Engagement Times	Best Times to Post YouTube Shorts
Monday	5 PM	2 PM to 3 PM
Tuesday	12 PM	12 PM
Wednesday	7 AM to 8 AM	7 AM to 8 AM
Thursday	3 PM to 4 PM	3 PM to 4 PM
Friday	12 PM to 1 PM	12 PM to 1 PM
Saturday	1 PM to 2 PM	1 PM to 2 PM
Sunday	9 AM	9 AM

Standard Best Time to Post Long-Format Videos

• Weekdays: 3 PM – 8 PM
• Weekends: 6 PM – 8 PM

Standard Best Time to Post YouTube Shorts

• Weekdays: 4 PM – 10 PM
• Weekends: 7 PM – 10 PM

Pro Tip – Long-format videos gain traction over time, so it might take a little time to blow up. Additionally, long-form video posting is like taking care of a plant; you have to put in some work before you can reap the benefits, but the journey is well worth it.

Tips for Posting on YouTube

• Always focus on creating high-quality content.
• Make sure to curate and post it, adhering to SEO guidelines.
• Build a consistent posting schedule for your channel.
• Incorporate live sessions, fun Q&A sessions, and more.

What Are the Factors That Influence the Best Time to Post YouTube Shorts?

Behind every well-performing YouTube Short, there’s a mix of perfect timing and strategy, influenced by many factors that creators tend to overlook during their posting time.

So, we have prepared a list of some fundamental factors that influence the suitable time and conditions for the best performance of your content.

1. Audience Statistics

YouTube gives its audience a feature, YouTube Analytics, to analyze the audience interaction pattern, when they’re mostly online, and more. This information can prove to be a gold mine for you if you know how to utilize it effectively. 

Let’s understand it better by taking an example—if most of your audience is active at 6 PM, posting at that time increases your chances of getting more views right away. 

Because at the end of the day, knowing your audience’s interaction pattern will help figure out what is the best time to post YouTube Shorts on your channel.

Additionally, you can use third-party tools to analyse and track different audience segments.

2. Different Time Zone

Another factor which plays an important role is your audience’s time zone. For example, if your audience is primarily based in a single country like the US, you should focus on the specific time zone, such as EST (Eastern Standard Time) or PST (Pacific Standard Time).

However, if your audience is diverse and split all over the globe, use multiple posting slots or use a scheduling tool that automates based on engagement patterns.

Moreover, one thing which almost every creator overlooks is figuring out the time zone is crucial, as it makes no sense if you’re posting when the majority of your audience is asleep. So, always make sure to identify the appropriate time zone that generates the most engagement.

3. Content Type

Not every content type will work in your favor; it’s a hard pill to swallow for every creator, but they have to!

Some formats, such as YouTube Shorts, fetch immediate traction and engagement, but conversely, long-format videos take more time to bring in views, likes, and shares. Let’s break down both of the content types and see how they work:

• YouTube Shorts typically performs best when posted earlier in the day, as it gives the YouTube algorithm efficient time to circulate throughout the day.
• YouTube long-form videos offer a real way to connect with the audience; it seems more like a one-on-one interaction. So, it might take a little more time to blow up than the short-format content.

Additional Tip – Understanding the type of content you’re sharing and how your audience is engaging with it gives you an overview of what you need to post more of.

4. YouTube Algorithm

Ever since the integration of YouTube Shorts on the platform, the YouTube algorithm has highly favored it, as it receives immediate engagement, especially in the first half hour to an hour of posting.

Whenever a post gets fast likes, comments, shares, and saves, the algorithm automatically puts that content piece under the category of highly valuable content.

5. Day of the Week

Another thing that creators learn the very hard way is that not all days perform the same!

• Weekends tend to have higher traffic because people have more free time.
• Mid-week might be slower unless your content resonates with the current trending topics.

Pro Tip – Test out different days and track performance. Every audience is different, so you need to find out the ‘day of the week’ by yourself by analysing the parameters.

6. Leveraging Current Trends

Curating the content around the trending topics, festivals, events, and trends can give you a hit of visibility boost.

For instance, if there’s a viral meme going around on a holiday coming up, posting relevant content at the right time can help you ride the wave of interest and be the centre of attraction.

Key Takeaway: Regularly analyse your performance and stay open to changes, as what worked last month might not work today! So testing, tracking, improving, and delivering is the only approach one should follow.

Wrapping Up!

Figuring out the best time to post YouTube Shorts isn’t just about uploading and praying for a miracle!

It’s more about understanding your audience, content type, how the platforms work, and more. From analysing stats to respecting time zones, every small detail adds up and impacts the engagement and reach.

So, explore, experiment, stay consistent, and let the magic begin. Because in the world of YouTube Shorts, every second counts.