Long term sustainable growth depends on the Value you provide, how valuable are your videos and it means in terms of maybe educational or entertaiment value.....The step to initially grow is thumbnails, that is literally the gateway to your videos, however if you want dedicated audience, returning viewers, then your channel should have some kind of deep value that resonates with viewers, it maybe the way you narrate the videos, it maybe the ideas you present in the video etc etc.
i would concentrate on both of those metrics in conjunction. in case viewers stay and watch the whole video it means that people find ur content engaging. afterward i would utilize the click through rate to determine whether the content needs better packagging.
Strong hooks definitely. Without them nobody will watch and one will just upload videos on YT only for uploading them, without them, being watched xD.
All the focus should be on content. Other techniques like tags just support it.
returning viewers are important. videos might get many clicks but when the next video gets uploaded nd viewers return again then it is clear that an audience is being formed. it will also help figure out what kind of content is worth creatting more of.
I do care about the loyal audience tbh. only one video might be fortunate but those who come back for the subsequent uploads will tells me that the channel is growing.
