Short answer: the best time to post on YouTube Shorts is 8 am to noon in your audience's local time, with 2 to 4 pm as a strong second window. In a random sample of 8,000 YouTube Shorts published through FeedHive, Shorts published from 8 am to noon got about 18% more views at day seven than the same channel's typical Short, and Shorts published from 2 to 4 pm about 24% more. Late night and 6 to 8 am were the weakest times, and no day of the week clearly wins. For long-form videos, Buffer's latest study points to weekday mornings and Sunday at 10 am.
That morning result goes against Buffer's widely cited advice to post Shorts in the evening. Below we show our numbers, why they differ, how fast Shorts collect their views, how length changes the picture, and how to find the best time for your own channel.
The best time to post on YouTube at a glance
- Best time for Shorts: 8 am to noon (+18% views). This window beat the rest of a channel's Shorts in about 6 of 10 channels.
- Second-best time for Shorts: 2 to 4 pm (+24%). The average is higher, but it held in fewer channels, so test it second.
- Evenings: 6 to 10 pm carries more than a quarter of all Shorts in our sample and landed close to typical (+2% to +6%).
- Weakest times: 6 to 8 am (-25%) and 10 pm to 6 am (-20%).
- Best day: none reliably. Saturday came out slightly ahead (+8%) and Wednesday slightly behind (-10%).
- How fast views arrive: a typical Short collects about 79% of its 30-day views within 24 hours and 91% within 48 hours.
- Length: Shorts of 90 seconds to 3 minutes got about 38% fewer views than 30 to 60 second Shorts from the same channel, partly because they loop less.
- Long-form videos: our data is almost entirely Shorts, so for long-form we rely on the Buffer and SocialPilot studies covered below.
Best time to post on YouTube today, day by day
Find today's row. Our column shows how Shorts published on that day did compared with the same channel's typical Short. Buffer lists its three best times for each day and each format. All times are local to your audience.
| Day | FeedHive data (Shorts views vs typical) | Buffer best times, Shorts | Buffer best times, long-form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | +4% (about typical) | 8 pm, 5 pm, 6 pm | 9 am, 10 pm, 7 am |
| Tuesday | -4% (about typical) | 8 pm, 9 pm, 7 pm | 9 am, 11 am, 8 am |
| Wednesday | -10% (weakest day) | 7 pm, 8 pm, 9 pm | 7 am, 3 pm, 5 pm |
| Thursday | +2% (about typical) | 7 pm, 8 pm, 9 pm | 5 pm, 6 pm, 7 am |
| Friday | +2% (about typical) | 4 pm, 6 pm, 7 pm (Buffer's best Shorts slots) | Noon, 11 am, 3 pm |
| Saturday | +8% (highest, but close) | 7 pm, 11 am, 6 pm | Noon, 10 am, 3 pm |
| Sunday | 0% (moved around between checks) | 7 pm, 8 pm, 5 pm | 10 am (Buffer's best long-form slot), 9 am, noon |
Sources: FeedHive analysis of a random sample of 8,000 YouTube Shorts published through FeedHive, July 13 to the end of October 2026 (method below). Buffer, Best Time to Post on YouTube (about 1.8 million videos), checked November 6, 2026.
Our practical pick for Shorts on any day: publish between 8 am and noon, and put a second Short, if you have one, between 2 and 4 pm. Do not move a finished Short to another day just to chase a better one.
Why our answer differs from Buffer and SocialPilot
| Study | What it measures | Best for Shorts | Best for long-form |
|---|---|---|---|
| FeedHive | Views at day seven, each Short compared with its own channel | 8 am to noon, then 2 to 4 pm; no clear best day | Not measured |
| Buffer | Median engagement across about 1.8 million videos | 6 to 11 pm; Friday first, then Saturday and Thursday | 8 to 11 am; Sunday first, then Tuesday and Monday |
| SocialPilot | Engagement per view across about 301,000 videos | Noon to 2 pm or 6 to 7 pm; Friday, Saturday, Thursday | 2 to 4 pm; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday |
Sources: Buffer and SocialPilot, Best Time to Post on YouTube in 2026, both checked November 6, 2026.
The studies answer different questions. Buffer and SocialPilot measure engagement, such as likes and comments, and compare videos across channels. A slot can look strong because of who tends to post at that time.
We asked a narrower question: when the same channel publishes Shorts at different times, which of them get more views? Every Short is compared with its own channel, and every channel counts equally. That removes the gap between a big channel and a small one and measures the one thing you control. Engagement mostly agreed with views in our data: likes and comments were about 10% higher for 8 am to noon and 11% higher for 2 to 4 pm.
The two big studies also disagree with each other, especially on long-form, where one says mornings and the other mid-afternoon. Treat every table here, ours included, as a starting point for your own test.
What our Shorts data shows
The best time of day to post YouTube Shorts
Four things stand out:
- 8 am to noon is the most dependable window. Views were about 18% above typical, and the result pointed the same way in every check we ran. About 6 in 10 channels that published both morning and later Shorts did better with the morning ones. It also carries about a quarter of all Shorts.
- 2 to 4 pm has the highest average, with less consistency. Views were about 24% above typical, but this window beat the rest of a channel's Shorts in only about 45% of channels. Some channels gain a lot from it and many gain nothing, so it is worth a test rather than a default.
- Evenings are fine, not special. Buffer's data has Shorts peaking from 6 to 11 pm. In ours, 6 to 10 pm landed within a few percent of typical, so an evening upload costs you little and gains you little.
- The hours around sleep lose. Shorts published between 10 pm and 6 am got about 20% fewer views, and those published from 6 to 8 am about 25% fewer, though few channels post at either time. Late-night Shorts did worse than the same channel's other Shorts in at least 4 of 5 channels.
How fast YouTube Shorts collect their views
FeedHive records a Short's public view count repeatedly in the 30 days after it goes out, so we can see exactly when views arrive. For a typical channel, a Short has about 5% of its 30-day views after one hour, nearly half after six hours, 79% after a day and 91% after two days. By day seven it is effectively done.
Buffer writes that Shorts are "continuously resurfaced by YouTube's recommendation engine over days or even weeks, which means the initial publish time is less make-or-break." A Short that takes off can do that, but it is not what happens to a typical one. Most of the action happens in the first day or two, which is why the clock still matters for Shorts.
Timing leads also hold. Looking at the same videos at every age, the 8 am to noon lead was about 12% to 15% at 24 hours and still about 7% to 12% at 30 days. Late-night Shorts started more than 40% behind at six hours and were still about 30% behind at 30 days, before adjusting for length and period. Our reading: nearly half of a Short's views arrive in its first six hours, and for a late-night Short those are hours when its audience is asleep. A slow start does not catch up later.
Two takeaways for your own analytics. Judge a Short after a week rather than a day, since that is when the number stops moving. And stop worrying about the first hour: only about 5% of the views arrive in it, though YouTube's public counter can lag, so the true figure may be somewhat higher.
The best day to post YouTube Shorts
The day matters much less than the hour. Two patterns held across our checks: Wednesday came out below typical every time, and Saturday came out above. Even those gaps are small enough that one channel's results could easily go the other way. Sunday swung between flat and more than 10% above typical depending on the check, so we would not read anything into it. Buffer and SocialPilot both rank Friday first for Shorts; in our data Friday is unremarkable.
The best time to post long-form YouTube videos
Almost every video in our sample is a Short, so we do not publish our own long-form numbers. Here is what the two largest current studies say:
- Buffer: Sunday at 10 am is the top slot of the week, then Sunday at 9 am and Friday at noon. Mornings from about 8 to 11 am lead overall. Sunday, Tuesday and Monday are the best days, and Thursday the weakest.
- SocialPilot: 2 to 4 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and avoid before 9 am and after 10 pm.
Those answers conflict, so test rather than pick. We would start with a weekday or Sunday morning and try 2 to 4 pm as the challenger, since it also did well for Shorts in our data. Buffer also suggests publishing long-form videos one to two hours before your audience's peak, to give YouTube time to process the video.
How video length affects Shorts views
YouTube now treats square and vertical videos of up to three minutes as Shorts, but longer did not mean more views. Compared with 30 to 60 second Shorts from the same channel, Shorts of 60 to 90 seconds got about 20% fewer views, and Shorts of 90 seconds to 3 minutes about 38% fewer. That gap is bigger than the gain from any posting time.
Replays explain part of this. YouTube counts a Shorts view each time a Short starts to play or replay, so a 10-second clip that loops collects views faster than a long one. Likes and comments tell a calmer story: they barely changed for anything under 90 seconds, and fell about 7% to 14% for Shorts of 90 seconds or more. So do not cut a good 45-second Short to 12 seconds on the strength of this chart. If public views are your goal, stay under a minute. If the idea truly needs two minutes, expect a lower view count and judge it on Engaged views instead.
How to find your own best time to post on YouTube
Averages describe many channels. Your audience might live in another time zone or have different habits. A short test will tell you more than any study.
- Check when your viewers are on YouTube. In YouTube Studio, go to Analytics, then Audience, and find the "When your viewers are on YouTube" report, which covers the past 28 days according to Buffer's walkthrough. Use it to pick a challenger slot, and remember it shows when people are online, not when your uploads do best.
- Pick two slots to compare. Your current habit and one challenger, for example your usual 7 pm against 9 am.
- Alternate them for four weeks. Keep everything else similar: the same kind of video, a similar length and the same number of uploads per week.
- Compare at day seven. About 98% of a typical Short's 30-day views have arrived by then, so you do not need to wait a month, and comparing at the same age keeps the test fair.
- Compare with your own median. For Shorts, also check Engaged views in YouTube Analytics, the metric YouTube keeps for viewers who chose to continue watching. Public views count every start and replay. Use the median rather than your best video, since one hit can hide a weak pattern.
- Keep the winner and test the next challenger, such as 2 to 4 pm or a Saturday slot.
If you publish through FeedHive, FeedHive Analytics lets you compare views and engagement across your posts in one place, which makes this comparison quicker.
How to post at the best time without being online
A 9 am upload is hard to hit when you film in the evening. YouTube's own uploader handles this: on the Visibility step, choose Schedule and pick a date and time, and the video stays private until then.
If you post the same clip on other networks, FeedHive lets you plan, schedule and cross-post YouTube Shorts from one calendar, alongside Reels and TikTok. Set up recurring posting slots once, for example 9 am on weekdays plus 2:30 pm on Saturdays, and each video you add to the queue lands in a tested window. The best time differs by network: see our data on the best time to post on Instagram and our guide to the best time to post on TikTok. Plans and the free trial are on the pricing page.
How we measured this
We drew a random sample of 8,000 YouTube Shorts (square or vertical videos of up to three minutes) published through FeedHive from July 13 to the end of October 2026. For each one we used the public view count YouTube reported at about day seven, and the local time from the time zone set in the account's FeedHive settings, so every time in this guide is local time.
We then compared each Short with other Shorts from the same channel published in the same four-week period, holding the time of day, the day of the week and the video length constant, with every channel weighted equally. Comparing within a channel and period also absorbs channel growth and YouTube's change on August 24, 2026 to counting views the moment a video starts to play, which falls inside our period. Time and day percentages are relative to the channel's average across windows or days. Channels with few Shorts in the sample or very low typical views were left out.
We repeated the analysis on a second random sample and on two non-overlapping random halves of the data, and we only report findings that pointed the same way in those checks. Exact percentages moved by a few points between them, and the 8 am to noon lift ranged from about 10% to 18%. The results describe Shorts from channels that schedule through FeedHive. They show which Shorts did better, not why, and a Short's topic and hook still matter most. No individual channel or video is identifiable from these results. Third-party figures come from the Buffer and SocialPilot studies linked above, checked November 6, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to upload on YouTube?
For Shorts, 8 am to noon in your audience's local time, with 2 to 4 pm as the second option. For long-form videos, Buffer points to 8 to 11 am and Sunday at 10 am, and SocialPilot to 2 to 4 pm from Wednesday to Friday, so test a morning against a mid-afternoon slot.
What is the best time to post YouTube Shorts?
In our data, 8 am to noon got about 18% more views than the same channel's typical Short and was the most consistent window. 2 to 4 pm averaged about 24% more but held in fewer channels. Evenings were close to typical, and late night was the weakest.
What is the best day to post on YouTube?
For Shorts, no day reliably wins in our data. Saturday was slightly ahead and Wednesday slightly behind. For long-form, Buffer ranks Sunday first, then Tuesday and Monday, while SocialPilot ranks Wednesday, Thursday and Friday highest.
Is it a good time to post on YouTube right now?
If it is between 8 am and noon or between 2 and 4 pm in your audience's time zone, yes. If it is late at night or before 8 am, schedule it for later that morning instead. Evenings are also fine.
How do I see the best times to post on YouTube for my channel?
In YouTube Studio, open Analytics, then Audience, and look for "When your viewers are on YouTube." It shows when your viewers are active, so use it to choose a slot to test, then compare that slot with your usual one at day seven.
Does the time you post on YouTube actually matter?
Yes, but it is not the biggest lever. In our data, the gap between the best and worst posting windows was large, roughly 40 to 50 percentage points on views. Length moves public views about as much: Shorts over 90 seconds got about 38% fewer views than 30 to 60 second Shorts. The video itself still matters most.
Should I publish before my viewers come online?
Buffer suggests testing an upload shortly before your audience's active window, mainly for long-form videos, and notes there is no universal lead time. For Shorts, our data fits that idea: almost half of the views arrive in the first six hours, so you want those hours to fall while your audience is awake.
Which time zone should I use?
Your audience's. All times in this guide are the channel's local time, which works when most of your viewers are in your region. If most of them are elsewhere, use their local time. FeedHive schedules posts in the time zone you set for your workspace.
