Best times to post on YouTube in 2025

Used correctly, YouTube is an outstanding platform for marketers. With over 2 billion monthly active users, it is one of the most popular sites on the internet. As the second-largest search engine globally, YouTube is a go-to site for answering questions and learning new things.

From educational content to entertainment, the platform caters to every niche, making it a powerful tool for building brand awareness and driving engagement.

Video is a key marketing tool because it grabs users’ attention in a fast-moving world. It offers a dynamic format that allows brands to convey complex messages, showcase products and build emotional connections with audiences. In fact, our 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report revealed that consumers are turning to YouTube to engage with entertaining brand content first and foremost, followed by educational product information.

So how do brands capitalize on getting more eyes on their video? To truly achieve maximum results, it’s important to understand when your audiences are online and when the best time to post on the platform is.

By strategically scheduling your uploads, you can boost views, increase watch time and build a loyal subscriber base.

We worked closely with Sprout’s Data Science team to uncover how users have been engaging with social media. We reviewed data from Sprout Social’s over 30,000 customers to understand when their content was most and least frequently engaged with, broken out by platform and industry.

Use the data from this article to help inform your publishing calendar. The best way to identify your brand’s best times to post on YouTube is to start a free trial of Sprout Social and test our ViralPost® technology yourself. It eliminates the guesswork and calculates the best time for you to post based on your own engagement data.

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When is the best time to post on YouTube?

For marketers using YouTube, consistent scheduling is key to maximizing audience reach and engagement. Understanding optimal posting times can significantly impact video performance.

Our data suggests that the best time to post on YouTube is consistently 1 p.m. on any given day of the week. Thursdays on YouTube have two high-engagement hours at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., which suggests more flexibility.

While consistency is valued throughout the week, it’s worth noting that engagement tends to be strongest from Mondays through Fridays. Saturdays and Sundays tend to see lower engagement periods than the rest of the week, due to shifts in viewer behavior and weekend activities. Maintaining a regular YouTube posting schedule, particularly during high-engagement hours, can help you build a loyal audience and maximize video reach.

What are the best days and times to post on YouTube?

We outlined the overall analysis of when to post on YouTube, but what about really breaking it down for each day of the week?

If you’re wondering when the best day and time to post on YouTube is, read our analysis below.

Best times to post on YouTube on Mondays

The best time to post on YouTube on Mondays is 1 p.m.

Even though there’s above-average engagement on Monday mornings for YouTube channels, the most optimal send time is during the 1 p.m. hour.

Best times to post on YouTube on Tuesdays

The best time to post on YouTube on Tuesdays is 1 p.m.

Similar to Mondays, YouTube channels see higher engagements in the late mornings, but the hour with the most engagement is again 1 p.m.

Best times to post on YouTube on Wednesdays

The best hours to post on YouTube on Wednesdays are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Wednesdays on YouTube look similar to Mondays, except with two peak hours of engagement: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. If you’re looking for multiple hours to post where you’d likely see the best engagement, consider Wednesdays.

Best times to post on YouTube on Thursdays

The best time to post on YouTube on Thursdays is 1 p.m.

Compared to the rest of the week, Thursdays see longer above-average engagement hours. For YouTube channels looking to increase their hours of engagement, Thursdays are a strong contender, but 1 p.m. is still the optimal time to post on the network.

Best times to post on YouTube on Fridays

The best times to post on YouTube on Fridays are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

As we approach the weekend, engagement isn’t as high on Fridays as on other days, but there’s still moderate engagement. Consistent with the rest of the week, the best times to post on YouTube on Fridays are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Best times to post on YouTube on Saturdays

The best times to post on YouTube on Saturdays are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

In relation to the rest of the day, optimal times to post on YouTube on Saturday are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Generally speaking, we noticed that Saturdays and Sundays see less engagement compared with the rest of the week across most social networks.

Best times to post on YouTube on Sundays

The best time to post on YouTube on Sundays is 1 p.m.

In relation to the day itself, the best time to post on YouTube on Sundays is at 1 p.m., which is consistent with the rest of the week. Sundays have less engagement throughout the day across most, if not all, social platforms.

When is the best time to post on YouTube by industry?

The data above provides a global outlook on when to post videos on YouTube, but there are a few factors that determine when your peak hours of engagement. Industry is just one factor that plays into the success of your social posts. Content type, video SEO, audience demographics and business location are just a few other factors to consider if you’re looking to get more views and engagement.

Use this industry-level data to help inform your publishing calendar, and test your optimal send times with social media experiments.

• Schools and Education
• Food and Beverage Industry
• Government
• Hospitals and Healthcare
• Nonprofit
• Retail
• Travel and Hospitality

Best times to post on YouTube for education and schools

From video tours of campuses, showcasing facilities and student life to prospective students, YouTube offers a unique opportunity for schools and other education institutes to engage with students past, present and future. Whether it’s to broadcast live events, such as commencement speakers or guest lecturers, or share student testimonials, YouTube is a channel to build brand awareness, enhance their reputation and engage with their community.

From K12 to higher education institutions, schools saw more concentrated engagement times on YouTube midweek, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at midday. Keep in mind that some schools manage multiple social profiles (per college, athletics, etc.) to meet their goals and effectively target distinct audiences at the right time.

Schools and education social media resources

• Higher education social media strategy: How Gettysburg College makes the grade
• Post Performance Report: Higher ed institutions raising the bar on social
• 15 ways to use social media for education
• All aboard: How Purdue University increased their social media engagement by 24%

Best times to post on YouTube for food and beverage industry

The food and beverage industry, which includes restaurants, has evolved over the last several years. Online orders, apps, delivery services—all of these play into how these brands engage with customers. Every social network has different benefits when interacting with customers, and the food and beverage industry is no different. YouTube provides food and beverage brands the opportunity to create longer-form content with recipe demonstrations or behind-the-scenes glimpses. Use YouTube Shorts to tease viewers to the full video or to give bite-size content, pun intended.

Food and beverage industry social media resources

• 5 tips from the man behind #Sprinklegate
• Papa Johns cuts customer service response time in half with Sprout Social
• How Sprout helps GRDC increase engagement with multiple generations of Australia’s grain farmers

Best times to post on YouTube for government

In today’s digital landscape, a strong social media presence is vital for government agencies, as citizens increasingly turn to these platforms for information and engagement. Agencies can use social media for crisis communication, public education, enhance dialogue and to manage public perception. This improves transparency, strengthens community relations and builds public trust. On YouTube, government entities’ channels saw the highest engagement, mainly on Wednesdays and at 9 a.m. This is proof that while overall 1 p.m. on Wednesdays may be the peak time to post content, that industry plays a factor into data.

Government social media resources

• What government agencies need to know about social media archiving
• Social media tools for government: What your team needs for success
• Social media and government: how to keep citizens engaged
• How Lake Metroparks stays a step ahead on social media using Sprout Social

Best times to post on YouTube for hospitals and healthcare

Hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers use social media to educate the public, help patients feel prepared for their upcoming appointments, promote their programs for aspiring physicians, build trust and connect with their communities. Having an active social media presence allows hospitals and healthcare centers to engage directly with patients and answer questions. YouTube videos allow a more unique perspective for prospective students, faculty and even patients to understand the culture of the healthcare facility.

Hospital and healthcare social media resources

• Social media for healthcare: How to keep patients engaged in the digital age
• The pros and cons of social media in healthcare
• How to realize the ROI of social media in healthcare
• A healthcare team’s guide to HIPAA compliance on social media
• The power of social listening for healthcare organizations

Best times to post on YouTube for nonprofit organizations

Civic, nonprofit and membership organizations use social media to amplify their missions and connect with their communities. Whether it’s to raise awareness about their causes, gain the support of volunteers and donors or foster a community, social media enables them to create those connections.

On YouTube, civic and nonprofit organizations’ peak hours to post are Tuesdays at 5 a.m. and Thursdays at 5 p.m. These industry channels will still see engagement throughout the day and the week, but those two hours will generally see the highest, according to our data.

Nonprofit organizations social media resources

• 2 nonprofit social marketers share how they build & measure their social media strategies
• How the Royal National Institute of Blind People found a dedicated accessibility partner in Sprout
• Mission critical: How to find the right social media management tools for nonprofits

Best times to post on YouTube for retail

It’s not a surprise that nearly every stage of the customer journey happens on social media. Retailers and brands must use social media algorithms to their advantage. Consumers engage with brand channels on YouTube on most weekdays, from midmorning to midafternoon. While we don’t have data on whether purchases are being made, we can assume product discovery, brand awareness and social shopping purchases are factored in these posts.

Retail social media resources

• How Patagonia Leads from a Foundation of Authenticity and Community [Webinar]
• What is social commerce? Stats, trends and tips marketers should know
• How to master social media for retail in the UK
• The best gifts for social media managers

Best times to post on YouTube for travel and hospitality

The travel and hospitality industry use video for destination showcases, hotel tours, travel tips and customer testimonials. The peak hours for engagement to post on YouTube for the travel industry is concentrated midmorning to midafternoon on weekdays, suggesting this industry targets viewers during work breaks. This pattern suggests that people are actively seeking travel inspiration or information during these hours, making it the best time to post engaging content on YouTube to capture their attention.

Travel and hospitality social media resources

• Social media and hospitality: How 3 brands are serving 5-star experiences
• International hotel chain Minor Hotels uses Sprout to boost its online presence
• Sprout Social helps keep NJ TRANSIT’s social strategy on track
• How to set up a travel social media marketing strategy
• How to manage multiple social media accounts

How to find your own best times to post on YouTube

Social marketers can plan content more effectively when they’re armed with data. As social media continues to evolve, brands and consumers will need to evolve with it. Staying aware of new content formats and trends might help you reach your audience in unexpected ways and build more authentic connections.

How to find your best time to post on YouTube with Sprout Social

A social media management tool like Sprout Social can help you drill into your analytics and develop tailored findings for your brand accounts across all networks, holistically and individually. Gain competitive insights by comparing your performance to your competitors, to find new opportunities for engagement.

Sprout’s ViralPost® technology uses the same data we used to look at all our customer accounts to find the best time to post, based on your account. ViralPost® algorithmically determines the results for our Optimal Send Times feature, a publishing option available in Professional and Advanced plans. Our proprietary machine learning feature isn’t new, but we’re constantly learning and improving our product to help brands surface insights faster. Our goal is to help people who use our product work more effectively.

With features like post tagging and cross-network reporting, you can separate different elements like post author or types of content, as well as how your posting time influenced your social success.

Step 1. Start your free Sprout Social trial: Sign up for a free trial of Sprout Social with your business email and connect to your social media profiles. This will allow the platform to gather data from your accounts and personalize the Optimal Send Times feature to your specific audience engagement patterns.

Make sure you are logged in to YouTube as an account manager when connecting with Sprout.

Step 2. Select networks. Open the Compose window in Sprout to begin uploading your YouTube video. Select the YouTube channel(s) where you want to publish.

Step 3. Add your video details: Complete your post by adding video details, such as video title, description, tags, the desired privacy settings and playlist. Select a custom thumbnail or allow YouTube to choose one. with a compelling message, visuals and relevant hashtags.

Step 4. Schedule with Optimal Send Times: Next to “When to post,” choose “Specific Days and Times” to reveal the Optimal Send Times feature. Select one of the suggested times, calculated based on when your audience is likely to engage. The stars suggest a time that’s likely for more engagement.

Step 5. Schedule and publish: After you’ve added your additional details, schedule your YouTube video to publish at your chosen Optimal Send Time.

The specific times offered through Optimal Send Times are based on when your audience engages the most using your publishing history.

ViralPost® also continuously refines these suggestions, saving you time and effort from repeated analysis and allowing you more time to craft great content.

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How to find your best time to post on YouTube with Analytics

You may be ready to post content at these provided best engagement times as part of your strategy. But consider pairing this data with your own YouTube analytics. You may discover that your specific target audience is active at different times or at slightly different hours.

To find your best times to post with native YouTube analytics via desktop, follow these steps:

1. Access YouTube Studio at studio.youtube.com on your desktop.
2. In the left-hand menu, click on Analytics.
3. At the top of the Analytics page, select the Audience tab.
4. Scroll down the page until you see the section labeled “When your viewers are on YouTube.”
   • There, you’ll find a heatmap showing when your viewers are most active.
   • Darker shaded areas represent periods when your viewers are most active on YouTube.
   • Remember that the times shown are based on your local time zone. If your audience is spread across different time zones, factor that in when scheduling.
5. Use this information to schedule your video uploads, premieres and live streams for times when your audience is most likely to be online.

If you’re looking for more of our findings from this year’s study of our customer data, see what we learned about the best times to post across eight industries on these networks:

• Best times to post on Social Media 2025
• Best times to post on Facebook 2025
• Best times to post on Instagram 2025
• Best times to post on LinkedIn 2025
• Best times to post on Twitter 2025
• Best times to post on TikTok 2025

How Sprout gathered the data

We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.

Sprout Social’s Data Science team gathers this information by analyzing nearly 2.5 billion engagements across 600,000 social profiles across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube over a 4-month period. We synthesize this information in collaboration with our Data Science team to provide you with the article you read above.

Unfortunately, we don’t have engagement data for Threads, yet.

What is the best time to post on YouTube for maximum exposure?

To optimize your YouTube posting schedule, consider posting on weekdays around the 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. hours. These times may vary based on your industry, but engagement is generally high during midday and afternoons.

Sprout’s ViralPost® technology synthesizes your audience’s unique peak engagement times and helps tailor your scheduling strategy for maximum impact. Remember to factor in variables that may affect your posting strategies, such as target audience and demographics, campaign goals, content type and the content itself.

The data we provide is directional to put you on the right track. To find the best times to post on TikTok for your brand, start a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social and see ViralPost® in action. You can also request a personalized demo and try Sprout for yourself.

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