YouTube engagement rate calculator

Everything the calculator needs is public on YouTube. It starts with three rows and takes up to ten videos.

1. 01

   Open the channel's Videos tab

   Use the Videos tab rather than the Shorts or Live tabs, and leave out live stream replays.

2. 02

   Skip the newest uploads

   Leave out anything posted in the last few days, because it's still collecting views. Then take videos in order, not your favourites.

3. 03

   Copy views, likes and comments for each video

   The view count is under the video (open the description for the exact figure), the like count is on the like button, and the comment count sits above the comments. Like counts are rounded, which is close enough.

4. 04

   Add the subscriber count, if you want it

   It's under the channel name, also rounded. With it, the calculator also shows median views as a share of subscribers.

5. 05

   Don't mix Shorts and long-form

   Use long-form videos only, or Shorts only. The two are watched in different ways, and mixing them makes the median meaningless.

One viral video can make an average meaningless. Say a creator's last five videos got 8,000, 9,500, 10,000, 11,000 and 120,000 views. The average is 31,700, which no ordinary video comes near. The median, the middle value once they're sorted, is 10,000: a much fairer guess at what the next video will get. With an even number of videos, the median is halfway between the two middle values.

Engagement rate works the same way: a video that spread far beyond the usual viewers may have an unusually low rate, and the median sets it aside.

Engagement rate here is (likes + comments) / views. Some sites divide by subscribers instead, so only compare figures worked out the same way. There's no universal good number: compare a channel with its own past videos, and with similar channels measured the same way.

Median views as a share of subscribers, or views per subscriber, shows how much of the audience still turns up. A low share means the subscriber count overstates today's reach.

The calculator also shows the points each figure would earn in Nakodo's fit score. These are thresholds Nakodo chose to judge one channel on its own numbers, not industry benchmarks:

The score follows straight lines between these points, and from the first point down to 0 at zero. Nakodo averages the two into the engagement part of its score; the rest of the method is on how it works.

• Likes can be hidden. A creator can choose not to show a video's like count. Leave those videos out rather than entering zero, which would drag the rate down.
• Numbers can be bought. Views, likes and comments can all be inflated, so read the comments too. Generic praise and repeated phrases are a warning; questions about the topic are a good sign.
• Counts are rounded. Like and subscriber counts are shortened on YouTube, so treat the result as approximate.
• Engagement isn't sales. Whether viewers buy depends on fit with your product. See how to vet a YouTube creator.

For the reasoning behind the formula and what else to weigh, read our guide to YouTube engagement rate.

Nakodo works these numbers out for every channel it finds, from up to 20 recent uploads at least 3 days old, preferring long-form over Shorts. It also samples comments from 3 recent videos and sorts them into questions, discussion, praise, spam and self-promotion: the part a calculator can't do.