Traffic sources
Where do my views come from and which sources are best?
Odinstat breaks every video’s views down by YouTube traffic source (search, suggested, browse, Shorts feed, external, notifications, playlists, channel pages, end screens, and paid advertising) and scores how concentrated your discovery is with a Gini coefficient.
Paid advertising is reported as its own source, never folded into “other”, so a promoted video cannot pass as organic virality.
Which source says what
Each source is evidence about a different strength. A high search share means searchable topics and titles. A high suggested share means the recommendation system pairs your videos with others. A high browse share means your thumbnails and titles win on the home feed. A high Shorts share is Shorts-feed discovery and behaves differently from everything else.
Odinstat shows the mix per video and for the channel, plus watch-time efficiency per source: which sources bring viewers who stay, not only viewers who click.
Diversification, measured
The Gini coefficient of your source shares runs from 0 (views spread evenly across sources) to 1 (a single source). A channel living on one source is exposed to one algorithm change. Odinstat reports the number and names the dominant source rather than describing your traffic as “healthy” or “risky” without a figure.
Advertising is not discovery
YouTube attributes views that came from ads, including campaigns started with the Promote button in Studio, to an Advertising traffic source. Odinstat keeps that source separate and treats a video whose views are mostly Advertising as paid, not as an organic standout. The Channel Assistant is told the same thing, so it will not congratulate you on a promotion.
What you need
At least 5 videos with traffic source data. Traffic sources are refreshed from the YouTube Analytics API on a schedule; a newly connected channel has its first breakdown after the first sync.
What this is not
- Keyword search volume or which search terms to target. Odinstat reports the traffic YouTube attributed, not what you could rank for.
- Traffic for channels you do not own.
Odinstat runs this on your own channel, read-only, with a 14-day free trial from $10/month.