YouTube Competitor Analytics

YouTube Competitor Analytics helps you monitor and evaluate how other channels in your niche are performing. Add up to five YouTube channels to a report and compare their subscribers, engagement rate, video activity by format (long-form, Shorts and live), most engaged tags, channel descriptions, and best and worst performing videos side by side — so you can spot trends, discover opportunities and refine your own YouTube strategy, all from the same Analytics dashboard you use for your own accounts.

How to Access YouTube Competitor Analytics

Here's how to open YouTube Competitor Analytics inside ContentStudio.

Click on Analytics from the left-side navigation menu.

In the left panel under Competitor Analytics, click on YouTube. This opens the list of your YouTube competitor reports.

Analytics in the left menu and YouTube under Competitor Analytics

Creating a Competitor Report

A competitor report (previously called a competitor list) is a saved group of up to five YouTube channels that you can compare side by side and reopen at any time.

On the YouTube competitor report list, click Create New in the top-right corner.

Create New button on the YouTube competitor report list

In the Add competitors window, enter a name for the report in the Report Name field.

In the search box, type the channel's name or paste a link to the channel, then click the matching channel in the results to add it. Each result shows the channel's handle and subscriber count, so you can be sure you're adding the right one.

Add competitors window with a report name and YouTube channel search results showing handles and subscriber counts

Repeat the search to add more channels. Added channels appear under Added Competitors with a counter showing how many of the five slots you've used. Click the cross (×) next to a channel to remove it.

Click Create report. The report is saved to your YouTube competitor report list with its created date and time, and you can open it at any time.

Added channels with the 3/5 counter and the Create report button

Good to know

You can add up to 5 competitors per report. To track more channels, create additional reports.
Reports are platform-specific — a YouTube report can only contain YouTube channels.
Competitor tracking is completely private. The channels you track are never notified.

Managing Your Competitor Reports

Every saved report appears as a card on the report list, showing the report name, the channels' profile pictures and the date and time it was created. Click a card to open the report.

To edit a report, hover over its card and click the gear icon. This opens Manage Report, where you can rename the report and add or remove channels.

To delete a report, hover over its card and click the trash icon.

Settings (gear) and delete (trash) icons shown when hovering over a report card

You can also edit a report while it's open: click Manage Report in the top-right corner, make your changes, and click Save changes. Updating your competitors from time to time keeps your insights fresh and relevant.

Manage Report window opened from the report header, with the competitor list and Save changes

Selecting a Date Range

Selecting a Date Range

Click the date range selector in the top-right corner of a report to filter the analytics to a specific timeframe. Available presets include:

All Time
24 hours / 48 hours / Last 3 days
Last 7 Days / Last 30 Days
Last Week / Last Month / Last Quarter
Last 3 Months / Last 6 Months
Last 1 Year / Last 2 Years

You can also pick a custom date range on the calendars and click OK to apply it. Use Sync data next to it to fetch the latest data for the channels in the report.

Date range picker with Last 30 Days selected

Understanding Your Competitor Report

A competitor report is made up of the sections below. Each channel keeps the same colour in every chart, you can hover over any chart to see exact values, and the expand icon in the top-right corner of a section opens it in full screen. Hover over the question mark icon next to a section title for a short explanation of that section.

Competitor Cards

The top of the report shows a card for each channel with its profile picture, name, total Subscribers and ER (engagement rate). The highest value across competitors is highlighted in green and the lowest in red.

Competitors' Performance Comparison

This chart plots every channel by engagement rate (X-axis, increasing from left to right) and subscribers (Y-axis, increasing from bottom to top), so you can see at a glance who combines a large audience with strong engagement. Hover over a channel's picture to see its exact subscribers and engagement rate.

Competitors' Comparative Table

The comparative table gives you a side-by-side numeric breakdown of every channel in the report. On YouTube, the Followers columns refer to each channel's subscribers.

Competitors' Comparative Table

The table includes the following columns:

Followers Trend — a mini graph of each channel's subscriber growth over the selected period.
Followers and Followers % chg. — total subscribers and how they changed.
Post/ Week and Post/ Week % chg. — how many videos the channel publishes per week on average, and how that changed.
ER by Followers and ER by Followers % chg. — engagement rate calculated against subscribers, and how it changed.

Values highlighted in green are the highest in their column and values in red the lowest. Green up arrows show a gain and red down arrows a loss. Click a column header to sort the table.

Competitors’ Comparative Table with the highlight legend, sortable columns and expandable rows

Click the arrow next to a channel's name to expand its Followers Growth Trend chart, which shows its subscriber count day by day for the selected period.

Expanded table row showing a competitor’s Subscribers Growth Trend chart

Competitors by Total Subscribers vs Net Change in Subscribers

This bar chart compares each channel's total subscribers (the height of the bar) with the change in its subscribers over the selected period (the label above the bar — green for growth, red for decline), so you can see who is actually growing rather than just who is biggest. Hover over a bar to see the channel's subscribers, subscriber % change, engagement and average posts per week. The change can only be calculated when historical data is available for that channel.

Video Activity by Competitors

Use the dropdown to switch between Long-form, Short and Live or premiere videos. For the selected video type, the chart compares each channel's average engagement (purple bars) with the number of videos of that type it publishes per week (yellow bars), so you can see which format works best for each channel. Click the list icon to switch to a table with each channel's posts, total engagement and ER by followers, and click a column header to sort it in ascending or descending order.

Most Engaged Tags

This table lists the tags that brought channels the most engagement during the selected period, with the number of Posts (videos) that used each tag, Average Eng./ Post, Eng./ Follower and ER by Followers. Click the arrow next to a tag to see which channels used it and how it performed for each of them.

Video Engagement

Video engagement compares the total engagement each channel received (purple bars) with the number of videos it published (yellow bars) during the selected period. Hover over a channel to see the exact figures.

Videos/Day

Choose a channel from the dropdown to see how many videos it published each day (purple bars) and how much engagement those videos received (yellow bars), so you can benchmark its upload cadence against your own. Drag the handles on the slider under the chart to zoom in on part of the date range.

Bio Analysis

Bio Analysis shows each channel's description and how many of the 1,000 available characters it uses, so you can compare how others in your niche describe their channels and craft a compelling description for your own.

Exporting a Competitor Report as PDF

You can turn any competitor report into a clean, well-structured PDF to share with your team or clients.

Open the competitor report and make sure the channels and date range you want are selected.

Click Export PDF in the top-right corner of the report.

Export PDF button in the top-right corner of a competitor report

In the Export report window, choose the Report Language and use Sections to include to choose which sections appear in the PDF. All sections are selected by default.

Click Export PDF. ContentStudio generates the report for the selected channels and date range.

Export report window with Report Language, Sections to include and the Export PDF button

Go to Analytics → Manage Reports → Download Reports. Your export appears at the top of the list with the channels, period and creation date. Click Download to save the PDF.

Download Reports page listing the exported YouTube competitor report with its Download button

Exporting tips

Always make sure the channels and date range are set before exporting — the PDF uses what's currently selected in the report.
Sections you can include: Channels, Competitors' Performance Comparison, Competitors' Comparative Table, Competitors by Total Subscribers vs Net Change in Subscribers, Posting Activity by Video Type, Most engaged tags, Video engagement, Videos/Day, Bio Analysis, and Top and least performing videos.
If your export isn't listed straight away, wait a moment and refresh the Download Reports page. Earlier exports stay there, so you can download them again at any time.

FAQs

How many competitors can I add to a single report?
You can add up to 5 competitors per report. If you want to track more channels, create additional reports for better organisation.

Which YouTube channels can I add?
Any public YouTube channel. In the Add competitors window, search by the channel's name or paste a link to the channel.

Can I edit or delete a competitor report later?
Yes. Hover over the report on the list and click the gear icon to edit it or the trash icon to delete it. You can also click Manage Report inside an open report.

What date ranges can I apply?
Any preset from 24 hours to Last 2 Years or All Time, or a custom date range picked on the calendar. This lets you analyse performance within a specific timeframe.

Can I add YouTube, Instagram and Facebook competitors to the same report?
No. Each report is platform-specific, so create a separate report for YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

Can competitors see that I am tracking them?
No. Competitor tracking is completely private and the channels you track are not notified.

Why does a section say “There is nothing to show for the dates you selected”?
The channels have no matching videos or data in that period. Try selecting a wider date range.

Why is a subscriber change 0.00% or a growth trend almost empty?
Changes and growth trends are calculated from historical data. When there isn't enough history for a channel in the selected period — for example, shortly after it was added to a report — the change can show as 0.00% and the trend may have only a few points.

Can I customise the layout or content of the PDF report?
You can choose the report language and which sections to include. The layout itself is fixed to keep reports consistent, with clear pagination and platform branding such as competitor avatars and the selected date range.

Where can I find previously exported reports?
All exported reports are available under Analytics → Manage Reports → Download Reports, where you can track their progress and download past reports again.

What happens if the PDF export fails?
You'll see an error message with an option to retry. Make sure your internet connection is stable and that the report has data for the selected date range.

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