--- title: "What Is Video Analytics? Definition and Examples | RentAnOTT" description: "Video analytics measures who watches, what they watch, what it earns and how well it plays. See the four areas to track and the decisions each supports." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/video-analytics" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/video-analytics.md" category: "Metrics" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is video analytics? Video analytics is the measurement of how a streaming service is used and how it performs: who the viewers are, what they watch and for how long, what revenue results and how reliably the video plays. ## The four areas to measure - Audience: sign-ups, active users, retention, cohorts and churn - Content: views, watch time, completion rate and where viewers drop off - Revenue: subscriptions, one-time transactions and advertising, per plan and per title - Quality: start time, buffering, playback failures and the mix of devices ## How the data is collected The player sends events as a viewer watches: play, pause, seek, quality change, error and a regular heartbeat. The platform combines these with account and billing records, so that viewing can be related to the plan a viewer is on and whether they later renewed. ## Decisions analytics should support Numbers matter when they change what you do. Completion rates show which titles to commission more of and which to stop promoting. Cohort retention shows whether a price change or a release schedule kept people longer. Quality metrics by device show where an app needs work before it costs subscribers. Rights holders and advertisers also expect reports: plays and revenue per title for licensing deals, and impressions delivered for ad campaigns. ## Video analytics on RentAnOTT Business analytics and reporting are included on every RentAnOTT plan, covering audience (growth, retention, cohorts, churn), content (views, watch time, completion), revenue (subscriptions, transactions, ads) and quality (buffering, failures, device mix). [See features](https://www.rentanott.com/features). ## Related terms - [Watch time](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/watch-time) — Watch time is the total amount of time viewers spend actually playing video on a service, usually reported in hours per month. It is the most direct measure of how much a service is used. - [Completion rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/completion-rate) — Completion rate is the percentage of plays of a video that reach the end, or a defined point near it. It shows whether a title holds the people who start it. - [Churn rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/churn-rate) — Churn rate is the percentage of a streaming service's subscribers who cancel or fail to renew during a period, usually a month. It is the main measure of how well a subscription service keeps its customers. - [Quality of experience](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/quality-of-experience) — Quality of experience (QoE) is the measure of how well video playback works from the viewer's point of view. It is tracked through a small set of metrics collected by the player: how quickly video starts, how often it stalls, how often it fails and what picture quality is delivered. - [MAU](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/mau) — MAU (monthly active users) is the number of unique users who were active on a service at least once during a month. On a streaming service, active usually means signing in or starting playback. - [ARPU](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/arpu) — ARPU (average revenue per user) is a service's total revenue in a period divided by the number of users in that period. It shows how much each user is worth on average, across subscriptions, advertising and one-time sales. ## Further reading - [OTT revenue calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/ott-revenue-calculator) - [OTT solution guide](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/ott-solution) - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing) ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the difference between video analytics and web analytics? Web analytics measures page visits and clicks. Video analytics measures what happens inside playback: how long people watch, where they stop and how well the stream performed. ### Which metric should a new service watch first? Retention. Whether the people who joined last month are still watching and paying tells you more about the service than sign-ups or total views. ### Does video analytics include quality of experience? It should. Start time, rebuffering and failures affect how long people watch and whether they renew, so quality belongs in the same view as audience and revenue. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt