'Dance Moms' Waltzes To Watch-Time Win

Lifetime show Dance Moms has steadily built up to hundreds of millions of hours of watch-time on YouTube as it leans into longer-form videos to get audiences watching for hours on end.

• Tubular Labs data shows U.S. YouTube watch-time for the show hit 349 million minutes in January – its highest total over the last year. Of that number, over 90% were from women, showing how the program is winning with its core audience.

Dance Moms, like many cable reality shows today, has been embracing both short-form and long-form uploads on YouTube to find its audience on the platform and then keep them engaged. Over the last 12 months, Dance Moms uploaded about 100 more videos than it did in the previous 12. And while plenty were Shorts to get viewers in the door, the show also embraced marathon viewing of both full episodes and super-cuts.

• One of its most popular videos was a 51-minute “mega compilation” of various conflicts, hitting over 545K views.
• The video is still getting over 10K views per week over two months after it was initially uploaded, and the show was No. 18 in January by watch-time among U.S. women on YouTube.