What’s more important on YouTube now CTR or watch time?

I’ve been testing different thumbnails and titles lately, and sometimes high CTR videos still don’t get pushed much.

For those growing channels recently, what metric do you think matters most to the algorithm today?

High CTR means nothing if your retention is garbage. If people click because of a great thumbnail but leave in the first 30 seconds, YouTube flags it as clickbait and kills the impressions immediately. CTR gets them through the door, but Average View Duration (AVD) is what makes the algorithm push the video to a wider audience.

Watch time is more important.

CTR is what draws a user to video, while watch time is sign that a user is engaged.