Best time to post on YouTube (and how to find yours)

Search for the best time to post on YouTube and most answers lump long videos and Shorts together. The newest large study splits them, and the results point in different directions. This guide shows what the data says for each, why timing matters less for Shorts than you might think, and how to find the hours that suit your own channel. Everything below was checked in November 2026.

What the data says about the best time to post on YouTube

The biggest recent study is Buffer's, published July 24, 2026. Buffer measured the median engagement of 1.8 million videos shared through its tool, long-form videos and Shorts together, and looked at Shorts on their own for the first time. It says the times apply in your local time, so you don't need to convert them. It doesn't give a date range, how many channels are included or how its engagement score is worked out.

The split is the useful part. Long videos did best when people had time to sit down and watch, especially on Sunday morning. Shorts did best in the evening, and Buffer found the weakest Shorts window in the afternoon, from 12 to 5 p.m., with Friday the exception.

Other well-known timing studies don't help much here. Sprout Social's 2026 study, for example, covers six networks and leaves YouTube out.

Best time to post on YouTube, day by day

If you came here for the best time to post on YouTube today, find today's row. These are Buffer's three strongest hours for each day, best first.

For Shorts, 7 p.m. shows up on every day but Monday. For long videos the hours move around more, but most days have a morning or midday slot near the top.

Why the best time matters less for Shorts

Buffer makes a point worth knowing before you plan around the clock: YouTube's recommendations keep showing Shorts to new viewers for days or even weeks, so the hour you publish is less make-or-break than it is for a long video. A good Short posted at an average time can still find its audience later.

Averages also hide your channel. Each study looks at its own customers, who differ in topic, size and where their viewers live. A gaming channel, a cooking channel and a channel for small business owners won't share the same evening. Treat any study as a starting point, not a rule.

How to find your own best time on YouTube

YouTube gives you a report built for this question. Here's how to open it, following YouTube's help page:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio at studio.youtube.com.
2. In the left menu, select Analytics.
3. In the top menu, select Audience.
4. Find the report called When your viewers are on YouTube.

YouTube says it shows when your viewers were online across YouTube in the last 28 days. That's across all of YouTube, not only on your channel, so it tells you when your people are around. If the report is empty for your channel, start with the times above.

Then compare your own videos. For each upload, write down the day, the hour, whether it was a Short or a long video, and its views after the same number of days. A plain note on your phone works.

A simple 4-week test plan for Shorts

Here's one plan for Shorts, with example slots: an early evening, a later evening and a midday slot to check Buffer's weakest window against your own channel. Swap in hours from your own report.

1. Pick three slots. Here we use 12 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. in your viewers' time zone.
2. Post three Shorts a week for four weeks, rotating the slots so no slot always lands on the same weekday:

3. Keep everything else similar: the same kind of Short, a similar length and similar topics, so the time is the main difference.
4. Look at each Short at the same age. Because Shorts keep picking up views, a week after posting is fairer than one day.
5. For each slot, take the middle result of its four Shorts, not the best one. One Short that takes off can make a slot look better than it is.
6. Keep the winning slot and test one new time against it for another four weeks. Four Shorts per slot is a small sample, so treat the result as a lean, not proof.

For long videos, the same idea works with fewer uploads: alternate a weekend morning with a weekday morning for a couple of months and compare.

How to schedule a YouTube video for your best time

YouTube Studio can schedule both long videos and Shorts. These are YouTube's steps on a computer: click Create, then Upload videos, choose your file and add the details, click the Schedule card, set the date, time and time zone, then click Schedule. The video stays private until that time, then goes public. YouTube notes that the date shown under a public video is based on Pacific time, so it can differ from your local date.

How to schedule YouTube Shorts with Unisenda

If you post the same short videos to TikTok, Instagram Reels or Facebook too, a scheduler saves you uploading each one separately. Unisenda is the scheduler we make. It posts square or vertical videos up to 3 minutes to YouTube as Shorts; it doesn't post long-form videos, so use YouTube Studio for those.

1. Open Connections, connect your YouTube channel and approve access on Google's own screen. Unisenda never asks for your password, and nothing is posted when you connect.
2. Click Create post, select your channel and any other accounts that should get the video, and add the video from your computer or the Media library.
3. In the YouTube tab, add a title of up to 100 characters, choose the visibility (public, unlisted or private) and the audience (made for kids or not), and say whether the video has realistic altered or synthetic content.
4. Click Schedule for, pick the date and the time to the minute in your time zone, then click Schedule. If your viewers live elsewhere, convert their hour to yours first.
5. Open Calendar and choose Week to see your test laid out hour by hour. Drag a scheduled post to another day or hour (with Undo), or click an empty hour to start a post at that time.

Scheduled posts go out from Unisenda's servers, so your computer can be off, and each result links to the live Short. Unisenda doesn't show analytics, so you'll still compare results in YouTube Studio. You can try it in the Unisenda demo, where nothing is ever published, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.

Tips for posting on YouTube at the right time

• Plan in your viewers' time zone. If most of your viewers are in the US and you're in Europe, their 7 p.m. is your night. YouTube Analytics can show which countries your viewers are in.
• Write a clear title. A title people understand at a glance helps whenever you post. The free YouTube title checker shows how yours fits.
• Post on a rhythm you can keep. A steady few Shorts a week at your two best times beats chasing every peak. The free content calendar planner can lay a month out for you.
• Re-test now and then. Your audience changes, and so does YouTube. A fresh test every few months keeps your times honest.

New to Shorts? See how to schedule YouTube Shorts and the Shorts size and length guide. Posting elsewhere too? See the best times for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X.