Best Time to Post on YouTube

Publish long-form videos in the afternoon so they have time to process before peak viewing. For Shorts, test the separate afternoon and evening windows below, then let your YouTube Analytics audience report guide the schedule.

Research reviewed

Times shown in US Eastern Time until your timezone is detected.

YouTube

Publish in the afternoon so videos index before evening views.

Best hours

2:00 PM3:00 PM4:00 PM8:00 PM

Best days

ThursdayFridaySaturday

Best times and days to post on YouTube

Posting when your audience is active can help a strong post gain early engagement. Use the time above as a starting point, then compare reach, clicks and engagement across several posts in your own analytics.

Tips for posting on YouTube

  • Publish a few hours before your audience's peak so the video is indexed and recommended in time.
  • Weekends and Thursday/Friday evenings are strong viewing windows.
  • YouTube is search- and suggestion-driven, so a video keeps earning views long after upload - timing only shapes the first push.
  • Use YouTube Studio's When your viewers are on YouTube report instead of treating a generic benchmark as a rule.

These windows are a benchmark starting point. Pair them with the full best-time overview for every platform, then test against your own analytics.

Sources: windows aggregated from publicly reported engagement data by Instagram Insights, TikTok Analytics, X Analytics, LinkedIn Analytics, Meta Business Suite Insights and YouTube Analytics.

Preparing a YouTube upload? Check the YouTube video size and resolution guide and use the YouTube channel name generator when the next step is naming the channel.

Frequently asked questions

Best Time to Post on YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts post times are a starting point for early viewership, not a promise of long-term reach. Test afternoon and evening windows, then compare the results with your audience activity in YouTube Analytics.

Shorts times shown in US Eastern Time until your timezone is detected.

YouTube Shorts

Test afternoon and early-evening windows, then use your audience report.

Best hours

12:00 PM3:00 PM7:00 PM

Best days

ThursdayFridaySaturday

How to use YouTube Shorts post times

  • Test Thursday through Saturday first, then expand the test to the days your viewers are most active.
  • Try afternoon and early-evening slots for Shorts, but keep the hook and retention strong enough to matter after the first push.
  • Keep Shorts and long-form timing decisions separate when the audiences behave differently.

YouTube says publish time is not known to affect long-term video performance. Use the benchmark for an early-viewership test, then let the When your viewers are on YouTube report decide your repeatable schedule.

YouTube Shorts timing FAQs

Other platforms

Best time to post on Instagram

Best time to post on TikTok

Best time to post on X (Twitter)

Best time to post on LinkedIn

Best time to post on Facebook

Ready for the next step

Make the YouTube window part of a repeatable plan.

Use Donivo to prepare YouTube posts ahead of time and publish consistently without relying on reminders.

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