We pulled 49,802 tracked videos with a real like count from the same tracked-channel dataset behind our other studies, and measured engagement rate, (likes + comments) / views, split three ways: by niche, by format, and by subscriber count. Long-form median engagement rate ranges from 2.290% in news to 4.659% in beauty, a real 2.03x gap. There is no single "good" engagement rate that applies everywhere.
One competitor study claims Shorts run 1.4x higher engagement than long-form. Measured directly across our own tracked channels, long-form beat Shorts in every niche with enough data for both, by almost exactly the same 1.4x, in the opposite direction.
Engagement Rate by Niche, Long-Form
For each video, we used its latest snapshot with a real like count and computed (likes + comments) / views, long-form and Shorts kept separate. YouTube counts a Shorts view the moment playback starts, with no watch-time floor, since March 31, 2025, so pooling the two formats mixes two different definitions of a view into one number. Median, not mean, since a handful of viral videos in every niche pull the average up.
| Niche | Median engagement rate | Mean | Videos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty | 4.659% | 5.254% | 974 |
| Education | 4.037% | 4.694% | 1,562 |
| Gaming | 3.809% | 4.217% | 2,912 |
| Finance | 3.646% | 4.051% | 1,225 |
| Fitness | 3.348% | 4.018% | 1,870 |
| Travel | 3.248% | 3.614% | 2,285 |
| Tech | 3.031% | 3.304% | 3,623 |
| Music | 2.887% | 3.658% | 2,823 |
| Cooking | 2.467% | 2.646% | 2,315 |
| News | 2.290% | 3.380% | 5,049 |
Four niches didn't clear this study's floor of 500 videos and 30 channels for long-form, sports, vlogs, entertainment, and comedy, and are left out rather than reported from a thin sample. "Uncategorized" channels are excluded too, they aren't a real niche.
Shorts Run Lower Than Long-Form in Every Niche
Split by format, the direction is consistent across every niche with enough data for both. Long-form's median engagement rate beat Shorts.
| Niche | Shorts median | Long-form median | Long-form advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty | 2.364% | 4.659% | 1.97x |
| Fitness | 2.006% | 3.348% | 1.67x |
| Cooking | 1.674% | 2.467% | 1.47x |
| Tech | 2.268% | 3.031% | 1.34x |
| Travel | 2.508% | 3.248% | 1.29x |
| Music | 2.785% | 2.887% | 1.04x |
| Gaming | 3.613% | 3.809% | 1.05x |
Gaming Shorts are the standout exception at 3.613% median, well ahead of every other niche's Shorts number (next highest is music at 2.785%), and close enough to gaming's own long-form rate that format barely matters there. Beauty shows the widest gap, its Shorts audience engages at less than half the rate of its long-form audience.
The likely explanation for the overall pattern is how a Shorts view gets counted. A view registers on playback start, so a large share of Shorts "views" are people who scrolled past in under a second, never long enough to consider liking or commenting. A long-form view has already cleared a higher bar of intent before the like button is even a decision.
Subscriber Count Matters Less Than Niche
Long-form engagement rate declines gradually as subscriber count grows, but the swing is smaller than the niche gap above.
| Subscriber tier | Median engagement rate | Channels |
|---|---|---|
| 10K to 100K | 3.289% | 148 |
| 100K to 1M | 3.106% | 334 |
| 1M to 5M | 2.866% | 272 |
| 5M+ | 2.359% | 129 |
The under-10K tier is left out of this table on purpose. It cleared the video floor but rested on only 65 channels, and its mean ran to 10.206% against a 3.030% median, a single-outlier-sized gap far wider than any other tier, not a reliable number. The size of the effect is what matters. Engagement rate drops about 28% from the smallest reliable tier to 5M+, versus a 2.03x swing across niches. Niche is the bigger lever.
See how your engagement rate compares to channels like yoursA Channel Audit reads your own upload history and benchmarks your real numbers against your niche, not a generic site-wide average.Run a Channel Audit →How to Read Your Own Number
- Compare against the right median, not a general average. Find your niche and format in the tables above and check your own rate against that specific number, not a site-wide figure and not another niche's.
- If you sit well below it, look at behavior, not the algorithm. The two levers known to move this metric are asking a direct question (drives comments) and giving viewers a clear reason to react (drives likes), rather than assuming you are being suppressed.
- Judge a trend, not a single video. Track your last 10 to 20 uploads. A single viral outlier or an unusually quiet upload will not move a real trend, and the under-10K subscriber tier above shows exactly how much one outlier can distort a single reading.
- Views, not subscribers, is the right denominator. A subscriber may never see a given upload, and a non-subscriber can discover one through search or suggested. Dividing by subscribers answers a different question, how loyal is my existing audience, not how engaging was this specific video to whoever watched it.
What Moves Engagement Rate
Two behaviors are behind almost every real difference this study found. Comments respond to a direct question or an unresolved disagreement, which is why gaming and education, both comment-heavy formats by nature, sit near the top of the long-form table.
Likes respond to a clear, low-effort reason to react, a strong opinion stated plainly, a moment worth agreeing with, a result worth reacting to. Videos that stay neutral throughout give a viewer nothing to press a button about, regardless of niche.
Pro tip: end the video with an actual question, not a generic "let me know below." A specific, answerable question is the closest thing to a controllable lever this study found, it directly targets the comment half of the formula, the half most tied to gaming and education's lead in the table above.
What does not move it: posting more Shorts to chase a higher rate. This study's own data shows the opposite, Shorts run behind long-form in every niche measured. Shorts is a discovery and reach tool. Long-form is what builds engagement.
Reading Mistakes to Avoid
- Comparing your rate to another niche's number. A 2.5% rate is a strong result in news and a weak one in beauty, the number means nothing without its niche attached.
- Comparing a Short's rate to a long-form video's rate. The two formats count views differently since March 2025, and this study shows they land in different ranges even within the same niche.
- Trusting the mean over the median on a small sample. The under-10K subscriber tier above is the clearest example in this dataset, one viral video was enough to more than triple the average.
- Judging one video instead of a trend. A single upload can miss its niche's typical rate by a wide margin without anything being wrong with the channel.
This metric matters to more than the creator checking their own number. Brands increasingly check engagement rate before paying for a sponsorship, since a channel with inflated subscribers and a low engagement rate is a weaker buy than the raw subscriber count suggests.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good engagement rate on YouTube?
It depends on your niche and format, not a universal number. Across 49,802 tracked videos, long-form median engagement rate ((likes + comments) / views) ranges from 2.290% in news to 4.659% in beauty, a real 2.03x gap. Compare your own rate to your niche and format's median above, not to a single site-wide benchmark.
How is YouTube engagement rate calculated?
The standard formula is (likes + comments) / views, expressed as a percentage. Some calculators add shares, which YouTube does not expose publicly, so this study uses only likes and comments, the two metrics every tracked video has.
How much engagement rate is good on YouTube Shorts?
Lower than long-form in every niche we measured. Gaming Shorts lead at 3.613% median, with cooking lowest at 1.674%. Across every niche with enough data for both formats, long-form outperformed Shorts by a median of 1.4x, the reverse of a competitor claim that Shorts run 1.4x higher.
Does engagement rate vary by subscriber count?
Yes, but less than niche does. Long-form median engagement rate runs from 3.289% at the 10K-100K tier down to 2.359% at 5M+ subscribers, a real but gradual decline. Niche alone produces a bigger swing (2.03x) than subscriber tier does.
What is a good like-to-view ratio on YouTube?
This study measures combined engagement rate, (likes + comments) / views, rather than likes in isolation. Comments make up a small share of total interactions in every niche, so the same niche and format tables above are a reliable stand-in for a pure like-to-view reading. There is no fixed ratio that counts as "good" independent of niche and format, the 2.03x niche gap and the 1.4x format gap both apply.
Niche Explains More Than Format or Size
Every calculator that hands out one universal engagement-rate benchmark is measuring the wrong thing, and the ones that split by format alone are still missing the bigger lever. Niche produced a 2.03x swing in this data, format produced a 1.4x swing, and subscriber count produced a 28% swing between the tiers with enough data to trust. Judge your number against your own niche and format first, and use your own trend over many uploads, not a single video or a borrowed industry average.
