# The best time to post on YouTube in 2026: upload times for every day, for videos and Shorts Canonical: https://postmesh.app/blog/best-time-to-post-on-youtube By PostMesh team. Published 2026-10-26; updated 2026-10-31. For long videos, Sunday morning is the best-supported slot: Buffer's 2026 study of 1.8 million videos ranks Sunday at 10 a.m. first, SocialPilot's 301,000-video study picks 8 to 10 a.m. on Sundays, and vidIQ finds Sunday uploads do best, while on weekdays SocialPilot favors 2 to 4 p.m. For Shorts, Buffer finds evenings strongest, led by Friday at 4 p.m., but vidIQ found the upload hour barely changes 30-day views, so check YouTube Studio's When your viewers are on YouTube report before you commit. YouTube timing studies disagree more than most, and for a good reason: a YouTube video keeps finding viewers for weeks, so the hour you publish matters less than on networks where a post fades in a day. This guide compares the four 2026 studies from Buffer, SocialPilot, vidIQ and Metricool, gives the best upload times for every day of the week for both long videos and Shorts, works through the time zone question, and shows how to read YouTube Studio's own report on when your viewers are online. ## The short answer For long videos, publish on Sunday morning in your viewers' local time, around 9 or 10 a.m. It's Buffer's best slot of the week, it sits inside SocialPilot's Sunday window, and vidIQ found Sunday uploads earn about 3.5% more 30-day views than a channel's average day. On weekdays, try early afternoon. For Shorts, try an evening between 7 and 9 p.m., where Buffer and SocialPilot overlap on Thursdays. Then open YouTube Studio's Audience tab, find When your viewers are on YouTube, and aim to publish an hour or two before your viewers' peak, as Buffer suggests. **What are you uploading?** - A long video, no audience data yet → Sunday 9 or 10 a.m. your viewers' time: Buffer's top slots, inside SocialPilot's Sunday 8 to 10 a.m. - A long video, and Studio shows your viewers' peak → Publish one to two hours before that peak, as Buffer suggests, and compare it with Sunday morning. - A Short → Thursday 7 to 9 p.m.: inside both Buffer's and SocialPilot's Shorts times. - Your viewers span the US → Sunday 12 p.m. Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific: a Buffer Sunday time on both coasts. *Starting points from the Buffer, SocialPilot and vidIQ studies.* | Study | Data | Long videos | Shorts | Weakest | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Buffer, July 2026 | 1.8 million videos, median engagement | Sun 10 a.m., Sun 9 a.m., Fri 12 p.m.; Sunday best | Fri 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m.; Friday best | Long: Thursday. Shorts: Tuesday and Monday | | SocialPilot, 2026 page | 301,000 videos from 27,000 channels, engagement per view | Weekdays 2–4 p.m.; Wednesday to Friday best | Varies by day | Long: before 9 a.m., after 10 p.m. Shorts: 3–7 a.m., Sunday evenings | | vidIQ, June 2026 | 40.2 million US long videos, 30-day views vs channel norm | Sunday +3.5%, Saturday +2.2%; hour barely matters | 80.3 million US Shorts analyzed | Wednesday −2.2% | | Metricool, July 2026 | 799,718 videos from 71,177 channels | 10 a.m.–4 p.m. | 2–6 p.m. | Not stated | - 40.2M: US long videos in vidIQ's timing analysis - 1.8M: videos in Buffer's 2026 YouTube study - 799,718: videos in Metricool's 2026 study - 301,000: videos in SocialPilot's study *Each study measures something different; see below.* ## What's the best time to upload YouTube videos? People search for the best time to upload, but what the studies measure is the best time to publish: the moment a video becomes public. Those can be different. If you upload a video as private or scheduled and let it go public later, the upload time doesn't matter at all; only the publish time does. So upload whenever suits you, and set the publish time to the slot you've chosen. Buffer adds one refinement: it suggests publishing long videos one to two hours before your audience's peak activity, so the video is live when viewers arrive. YouTube's own help page on [understanding your audience](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9314416?hl=en) frames its viewer-activity report in a similar way, saying you can use it to understand when to schedule a Premiere or plan a live stream. > vidIQ's analysis of 40.2 million uploads found the gap between the best and worst upload hours shrank to within a few percent by day 30. Timing gives a small edge on YouTube, not a big one. ## What do the 2026 YouTube studies say? ### Buffer, July 2026 [Buffer's YouTube study](https://buffer.com/resources/best-time-to-post-on-youtube/), published July 24, 2026, analyzed 1.8 million videos, comparing median engagement across every hour and day, with long videos and Shorts analyzed separately. Buffer says the times apply in your local time. For long videos, the top slots are Sunday at 10 a.m., Sunday at 9 a.m. and Friday at 12 p.m.; the best days are Sunday, then Tuesday, then Monday; Wednesday and Thursday are weakest, with Thursday lowest. For Shorts, the top slots are Friday at 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.; the best days are Friday, Saturday and Thursday; Tuesday and Monday are weakest. ### SocialPilot, 2026 [SocialPilot's study](https://www.socialpilot.co/insights/best-time-to-post-on-youtube) covers 301,000 videos published through SocialPilot by 27,000 channels, measuring engagement rate normalized per view. The page is titled for 2026 but shows no publish date. It says all times are your target audience's local time. Its overall answer for long videos is 2 to 4 p.m. on weekdays, with Wednesday, Thursday and Friday strongest. It advises against long-video uploads before 9 a.m. or after 10 p.m., and against Shorts between 3 and 7 a.m. or on Sunday evenings. It gives separate long-video and Shorts windows for each day. ### vidIQ, June 2026 [vidIQ's analysis](https://vidiq.com/blog/post/best-time-publish-video-youtube/), updated June 23, 2026, is the largest: 40.2 million US long-form uploads, with Shorts timing drawn from 80.3 million US Shorts. Instead of engagement, it compares each video's 30-day views with the typical performance of the same channel's videos. Its upload-hour charts are in Eastern time. The headline finding is that the exact hour has little effect on 30-day views. By day, relative to a channel's average: Sunday about +3.5%, Saturday +2.2%, Monday about even, Tuesday −1.4%, Wednesday −2.2%, Thursday −1.6% and Friday −0.5%. It offers 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern as a general default but says that's a suggestion, not a finding. ### Metricool, July 2026 [Metricool's article](https://metricool.com/best-time-to-post-on-youtube/), dated July 29, 2026, analyzed 799,718 videos from 71,177 channels. It found long videos see the most activity between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and Shorts between 2 and 6 p.m. It doesn't give days or state a time zone on the page, and points readers to a downloadable study for the full breakdown. **Long videos** - Sunday morning: Buffer, SocialPilot, vidIQ - Weekday afternoons: SocialPilot, Metricool - Weekdays weaker: Buffer, vidIQ - Avoid before 9 a.m. or after 10 p.m.: SocialPilot **Shorts** - Evenings: Buffer - Friday best day: Buffer - 2 to 6 p.m.: Metricool - Avoid 3 to 7 a.m. and Sunday evenings: SocialPilot **What vidIQ adds** - Hour barely changes 30-day views - Sunday +3.5%, Saturday +2.2% - Wednesday −2.2% - Use your own Studio data past 5,000 subscribers *Times are the audience's local time, except vidIQ's charts, which use Eastern time.* ## What is the best time to post on YouTube each day? For each day, here's what Buffer and SocialPilot say for long videos and Shorts, plus vidIQ's day effect on 30-day views. Buffer lists three times per day, best first. Times are your viewers' local time. ### Best time to post on YouTube on Monday Long videos: Buffer's best Monday times are 9 a.m., 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and Monday is its third-best long-video day. SocialPilot says 2 to 4 p.m. vidIQ finds Monday about even with a channel's average day. Shorts: Buffer says 8 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., though Monday is one of its two weakest Shorts days. SocialPilot says 7 a.m. or 12 p.m. Monday has no overlap: Buffer is morning for long videos and evening for Shorts, SocialPilot the reverse. It's a neutral day by vidIQ's numbers, so test whichever slot suits your schedule. ### Best time to post on YouTube on Tuesday Long videos: Buffer's best Tuesday times are 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 8 a.m., and Tuesday is its second-best long-video day. SocialPilot says 2 to 4 p.m. vidIQ puts Tuesday about 1.4% below average. Shorts: Buffer says 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 7 p.m., but Tuesday is one of its weakest Shorts days. SocialPilot says 7 to 11 a.m. or 5 to 7 p.m. For Shorts, 7 p.m. is named by both Buffer and SocialPilot. For long videos, the two studies split between morning and afternoon again. ### Best time to post on YouTube on Wednesday Long videos: Buffer says 7 a.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., but rates Wednesday one of its two weakest long-video days. SocialPilot says 3 to 5 p.m. and counts Wednesday among its best days. vidIQ puts Wednesday about 2.2% below average, its weakest day. Shorts: Buffer says 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. SocialPilot says 12 p.m. or 3 to 6 p.m. Buffer's 3 p.m. falls inside SocialPilot's window, so 3 p.m. is the Wednesday time with two studies behind it. But two of three studies (Buffer and vidIQ) rate Wednesday weak for long videos, so if you can choose, publish a long video on another day. ### Best time to post on YouTube on Thursday Long videos: Buffer says 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 a.m., and calls Thursday its lowest long-video day. SocialPilot says 3 to 5 p.m. and counts Thursday among its best. vidIQ puts Thursday about 1.6% below average. Shorts: Buffer says 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., and Thursday is its third-best Shorts day. SocialPilot says 7 to 11 p.m. Thursday evening is the clearest Shorts agreement of the week: all three of Buffer's Thursday Shorts times sit inside SocialPilot's 7 to 11 p.m. window. For long videos, Thursday is contested. ### Best time to post on YouTube on Friday Long videos: Buffer says 12 p.m., one of its three best long-video slots of the week, then 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. SocialPilot says 1 to 3 p.m. vidIQ puts Friday about 0.5% below average. Shorts: Friday is Buffer's best Shorts day and holds all three of its top Shorts slots, 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. SocialPilot says 7 to 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. For long videos, Buffer and SocialPilot both point to the middle of the day, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For Shorts they split completely: Buffer's best Friday times are late afternoon and evening, SocialPilot's are morning and lunchtime. ### Best time to post on YouTube on Saturday Long videos: Buffer says 12 p.m., 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. SocialPilot says 8 to 10 a.m. vidIQ puts Saturday about 2.2% above average, its second-best day. Shorts: Saturday is Buffer's second-best Shorts day, with 7 p.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. SocialPilot says 9 to 10 a.m. or 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday mid-morning has support for long videos: Buffer's 10 a.m. sits at the end of SocialPilot's window, and vidIQ rates the day above average. For Shorts, 6 p.m. is where Buffer's list and SocialPilot's afternoon window meet. ### Best time to post on YouTube on Sunday Long videos: Buffer's single best slot of the week is Sunday at 10 a.m., followed by 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., and Sunday is its best long-video day. SocialPilot says 8 to 10 a.m. vidIQ finds Sunday the best day, about 3.5% above a channel's average. Shorts: Buffer says 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 5 p.m. SocialPilot says 10 to 11 a.m. or 3 to 5 p.m., and specifically warns against Sunday evenings for Shorts. Sunday morning is the strongest long-video finding in this guide, backed by all three studies with day-level data. Sunday evening Shorts are the sharpest contradiction: Buffer's best Sunday Shorts times are exactly what SocialPilot tells you to avoid. Buffer's 5 p.m. sits at the edge of SocialPilot's 3 to 5 p.m. window, so late afternoon is the compromise. ## YouTube upload times by day and hour: the full tables Long videos and Shorts behave so differently that they get separate tables. All times are your viewers' local time. vidIQ's column shows how each day's uploads did on 30-day views compared with a channel's average day. | Day | Buffer, long videos | SocialPilot, long videos | vidIQ day effect | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Monday | 9 a.m., 10 p.m., 7 a.m. | 2–4 p.m. | About even | | Tuesday | 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 8 a.m. | 2–4 p.m. | −1.4% | | Wednesday | 7 a.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. | 3–5 p.m. | −2.2% | | Thursday | 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 a.m. | 3–5 p.m. | −1.6% | | Friday | 12 p.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m. | 1–3 p.m. | −0.5% | | Saturday | 12 p.m., 10 a.m., 3 p.m. | 8–10 a.m. | +2.2% | | Sunday | 10 a.m. (best slot), 9 a.m., 12 p.m. | 8–10 a.m. | +3.5% | | Day | Buffer, Shorts | SocialPilot, Shorts | | --- | --- | --- | | Monday | 8 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. | 7 a.m. or 12 p.m. | | Tuesday | 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 7 p.m. | 7–11 a.m. or 5–7 p.m. | | Wednesday | 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m. | 12 p.m. or 3–6 p.m. | | Thursday | 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m. | 7–11 p.m. | | Friday | 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. (best day) | 7–9 a.m. or 11 a.m.–1 p.m. | | Saturday | 7 p.m., 11 a.m., 6 p.m. | 9–10 a.m. or 3–6 p.m. | | Sunday | 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 5 p.m. | 10–11 a.m. or 3–5 p.m.; avoid evenings | | Long videos | 12–6 a.m. | 6 a.m.–12 p.m. | 12–6 p.m. | 6 p.m.–12 a.m. | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Monday | None | Buffer | SocialPilot | Buffer | | Tuesday | None | Buffer | SocialPilot | None | | Wednesday | None | Buffer | Buffer, SocialPilot | None | | Thursday | None | Buffer | Buffer, SocialPilot | Buffer | | Friday | None | Buffer | Buffer, SocialPilot | None | | Saturday | None | Buffer, SocialPilot | Buffer | None | | Sunday | None | Buffer, SocialPilot | Buffer | None | > Neither study names a best time for long videos between midnight and 6 a.m. Weekend mornings and Wednesday to Friday afternoons are where Buffer and SocialPilot overlap. ## Is the best time different for YouTube Shorts? Yes, according to every study that splits them. Buffer's top long-video slots are Sunday mornings and its top Shorts slots are Friday evenings. Apart from one Saturday 11 a.m., every Shorts time it lists falls between 4 and 9 p.m., while its long-video lists lean toward mornings and midday. SocialPilot says long videos and Shorts now perform best at almost completely opposite times of day, and that publishing both on the same schedule is likely costing you on one of them. Metricool's windows differ too: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for long videos, 2 to 6 p.m. for Shorts. In practice that means two schedules if you make both. Publish long videos on weekend mornings or weekday early afternoons, and Shorts in the evening, especially Thursday and Friday. vidIQ suggests releasing related content in clusters, such as one long video plus two or three related Shorts in the same week, which also gives you a natural way to test both schedules side by side. If you make Shorts from your long videos, [how to clip a YouTube video](/blog/how-to-clip-a-youtube-video) covers the options. ## What time zone are YouTube's best times in? ### Whose time zone the studies use Buffer says its times apply in your local time. SocialPilot says all its times reflect your target audience's local time, not your upload location. vidIQ's hourly charts are in Eastern time, and its day figures are relative to each channel's average. Metricool doesn't say. So for Buffer and SocialPilot, Sunday 10 a.m. means 10 a.m. where your viewers are. ### How to convert a study time 1. **Find where your viewers are**: YouTube Studio's Audience tab has a Top geographies report, which YouTube says shows the geographies with the most watch time for your channel. 2. **Pick a slot in their time**: Choose a time from the tables above, such as Sunday 10 a.m. for viewers in New York. 3. **Work out the gap on the publish date**: Use the gap that applies on the day the video goes public, since countries change clocks on different dates. 4. **Set the publish time**: Enter the converted time in your scheduler's time zone and check the scheduled time it shows afterward. ### A worked example: viewers across the US [time.gov](https://www.time.gov/) lists Eastern standard time as UTC minus 5 and Pacific as UTC minus 8, three hours apart. Say most of your viewers are split between the two coasts. Sunday at 12 p.m. Eastern is 9 a.m. Pacific. | Publish at | Eastern viewers | Pacific viewers | What it matches | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Sunday 10 a.m. Eastern | 10 a.m. | 7 a.m. | Buffer's top slot in the East; before SocialPilot's window in the West | | Sunday 12 p.m. Eastern | 12 p.m. | 9 a.m. | A Buffer Sunday time on both coasts; inside SocialPilot's 8–10 a.m. in the West | | Sunday 1 p.m. Eastern | 1 p.m. | 10 a.m. | Buffer's top slot in the West; after Buffer's Sunday times in the East | Sunday at 12 p.m. Eastern is the best compromise: it's Buffer's third Sunday time for the East Coast and its second for the West Coast, and it lands inside SocialPilot's Sunday window for Pacific viewers. ### Viewers in another country If you're in London and your viewers are mostly in New York, the usual gap is 5 hours, so Buffer's Sunday 10 a.m. for New York is 3 p.m. for you. In 2026 the UK put its clocks back on October 25, per [GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/when-do-the-clocks-change), and the US on November 1, per [NIST](https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/popular-links/daylight-saving-time-dst), so on Sunday, October 25 the gap was 4 hours and the same slot was 2 p.m. in London. In spring the US changed on March 8, 2026 and the UK on March 29. ### Which time zone does YouTube Studio's report use? YouTube's help page doesn't say. Third-party guides disagree, so we haven't repeated any of their claims. Read the chart alongside your viewers' top locations and use it to choose test slots rather than as an exact clock. ## How do I find my own best time to post on YouTube? YouTube Studio has a report built for this question. YouTube's help page on [understanding your audience](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9314416?hl=en) says the When your viewers are on YouTube report shows when your viewers were online across YouTube in the last 28 days. YouTube Studio: Analytics › Audience › When your viewers are on YouTube *From YouTube Help. The report covers the last 28 days.* 1. **Sign in to YouTube Studio**: Open YouTube Studio with the account that owns the channel. 2. **Open Analytics**: In the left menu, select Analytics. 3. **Open the Audience tab**: From the top menu, select Audience. 4. **Find the report**: Under Audience reports, find When your viewers are on YouTube. It shows the last 28 days. 5. **Note the peak and work back**: Write down your viewers' busiest hours, then pick a publish time one to two hours earlier, as Buffer suggests for long videos. 1. Sign in to YouTube Studio 2. Analytics, then Audience 3. Find When your viewers are on YouTube 4. Note your viewers' busiest hours 5. Publish one to two hours earlier *The work-back step follows Buffer's advice for long videos.* ### What the report does and doesn't show The report shows when your viewers are on YouTube in general, not when they watch your videos. vidIQ makes the same point and adds two rules of thumb of its own: the heatmap may be too sparse to rely on under about 1,000 subscribers, and past about 5,000 subscribers your own data should override generic guidance like the studies in this guide. Those thresholds are vidIQ's judgment, not YouTube's. ### Check when your best videos went public Alongside the report, look at your top videos in Studio and note the day and hour each one went public. If your best performers cluster on one day, that's a strong candidate even if it isn't the day the report highlights. Because YouTube videos keep collecting views, compare them on the same timeframe, such as their first 7 or 28 days, rather than lifetime views. ## How often should you upload to YouTube? | Source | What it says about frequency | | --- | --- | | YouTube Help | No number. Asks whether your frequency is sustainable over the long term and whether you're consistent about your upload and content schedules, then suggests planning your upload schedule for the coming weeks or months. | | SocialPilot | 1 to 2 long videos (8 minutes plus) and 3 to 5 Shorts a week for most creators, though elsewhere it says 5 to 7 Shorts a week is a strong start. It cites a median of about 12 videos a month and says to post at whatever frequency you can sustain for 12 months. | | Metricool, 2026 | The sweet spot for long videos is 2 to 4 a week. | | vidIQ, 2026 | A cadence you can actually sustain matters more than a perfect slot; it suggests clusters such as one long video and two or three related Shorts in a week. | | Buffer, 2026 | Keep a consistent schedule and the channel as active as possible; no number. | YouTube's [upload schedule tips](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/13616979?hl=en) are the most useful framing: choose a frequency you can keep up, tie content to set days of the week where your format allows, and plan ahead. For most solo creators that's one long video a week on Sunday morning or a weekday early afternoon, plus a few Shorts in the evenings. ## Why is there no single best time to post on YouTube? - Videos last. vidIQ found that by day 30, the gap between the best and worst upload hours shrank to within a few percent. On a network where videos keep getting found, the first few hours matter less. - The studies measure different things. Buffer uses median engagement, SocialPilot engagement per view, and vidIQ 30-day views against each channel's norm. A slot can win on one and not another. - They disagree on weekdays. Buffer and vidIQ rate Wednesday and Thursday weak for long videos; SocialPilot rates Wednesday, Thursday and Friday its best days. - They contradict each other on Shorts. Buffer's best Sunday Shorts times are in the evening, which SocialPilot says to avoid. SocialPilot's own page also gives two different weekly Shorts targets. - Different samples. vidIQ's data is US uploads only. SocialPilot's and Buffer's come from their own customers. Metricool doesn't give days or a time zone on its page. Where they do agree, it's worth acting on: Sunday morning for long videos, and evenings, especially Thursday, for Shorts. Beyond that, your own Studio data decides. ## How to test your best YouTube posting time in two weeks Long videos come out too slowly for a quick test, so run the two-week test on Shorts and a slower version on long videos alongside it. 1. **Pick two Shorts slots**: Slot A: 7 p.m., where Buffer and SocialPilot overlap on Tuesday and Thursday. Slot B: your viewers' peak from Studio, or a SocialPilot daytime window such as 12 p.m. 2. **Publish 6 Shorts over 14 days**: 3 in each slot, alternating days so neither slot gets all the strong days. 3. **Record at 7 days**: For each Short, note views and likes 7 days after it went public. YouTube views keep building, so use the same delay for every video. 4. **Compare medians**: Take the middle value per slot. One Short that takes off can make a slot look far better than it is. 5. **Run long videos on a slower clock**: Alternate Sunday morning with a weekday early afternoon for your next four long videos, and compare views at 28 days. 6. **Keep the winners**: Adopt the better slot for each format and test a new challenger next time. - Day 1: Pick two Shorts slots and two long-video slots - Days 2 to 14: Publish 6 Shorts, alternating slots - 7 days after each Short: Log views and likes - Day 21: Compare Shorts medians and keep the winner - Next 4 long videos: Alternate Sunday morning and weekday afternoon, compare at 28 days *Shorts results arrive a week after the last upload; long videos take longer.* | Short | Day | Slot | Viewers' time | Views at 7 days | Likes at 7 days | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Tue | A | 7 p.m. | | | | 2 | Thu | B | 12 p.m. | | | | 3 | Sat | A | 7 p.m. | | | | 4 | Mon | B | 12 p.m. | | | | 5 | Wed | A | 7 p.m. | | | | 6 | Fri | B | 12 p.m. | | | Views are the main number for a timing test on YouTube, since that's what vidIQ measured. If you also want to compare engagement, turn likes and comments into a rate with the free [engagement rate calculator](/tools/engagement-rate-calculator), so a Short with more views doesn't win on raw counts alone. Keep titles and tags similar across the test; the [YouTube tag generator](/tools/youtube-tag-generator) helps you stay consistent. **Before you trust the result** - [ ] Same number of videos in each slot - [ ] Same format: Shorts compared with Shorts - [ ] Views logged at the same delay after publishing - [ ] Medians compared, not totals - [ ] No video was promoted with ads - [ ] Publish times set in your viewers' time zone *Repeat the test before reorganizing your whole schedule.* ## How do I publish a YouTube video at the time I picked? YouTube Studio can do the upload-early, publish-later part for you. YouTube's help page on [uploading videos](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57407?hl=en) says that under Visibility you can choose to schedule, pick the date you want the video published, and it stays private until then, with an option to premiere at that time. The [guide to scheduling YouTube videos](/blog/how-to-schedule-youtube-videos) covers the steps in more detail. If the same video also goes to TikTok, Instagram or LinkedIn, [PostMesh](/platform/youtube) uploads it to your channel through the official YouTube API and schedules it up to 30 days ahead. The video uploads as private and YouTube makes it public at the time you pick, which is exactly the upload-early, publish-later approach described above. A vertical video of 3 minutes or less is marked as a Short automatically. Before you schedule, check the title fits with the [YouTube title checker](/tools/youtube-title-checker) and the thumbnail meets YouTube's size with the [YouTube thumbnail size guide](/blog/youtube-thumbnail-size) or the [thumbnail resizer](/tools/youtube-thumbnail-resizer). Each network has its own peak hours, so if you cross-post, compare the best time to post on [TikTok](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-tiktok), [Instagram](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram), [Facebook](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-facebook) and [LinkedIn](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-linkedin) too. ## Common mistakes and what to do next - Confusing upload time with publish time. Only the publish time counts; upload early and schedule. - Using one schedule for long videos and Shorts. The studies say they peak at different times. - Judging a video on its first day. YouTube views keep building; compare at 7 or 28 days. - Reading vidIQ's 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern as a finding. vidIQ says it's a suggestion. - Treating the Studio heatmap as exact on a small channel. vidIQ says it may be too sparse under about 1,000 subscribers. - Forgetting clock changes when your viewers are in another country. Next step: schedule your next long video for Sunday at 9 or 10 a.m. in your viewers' time zone, and your next six Shorts alternating between 7 p.m. and your Studio peak. If you're tracking what your views are worth as they grow, [how much YouTube pays per 1,000 views](/blog/how-much-does-youtube-pay-per-1000-views), [what 1 million views pays](/blog/how-much-does-youtube-pay-for-1-million-views) and the [YouTube money calculator](/tools/youtube-money-calculator) give the numbers, and [when YouTube starts paying you](/blog/when-does-youtube-start-paying-you) covers the thresholds. ## Questions ### What is the best time to upload YouTube videos? For long videos, Sunday at 9 or 10 a.m. in your viewers' time zone has the most study support. On weekdays, SocialPilot favors 2 to 4 p.m. ### What is the best day to post on YouTube? Sunday for long videos: it's Buffer's best day and vidIQ found Sunday uploads earn about 3.5% more 30-day views. For Shorts, Buffer's best day is Friday. ### What is the best time to post YouTube Shorts? Evenings between 7 and 9 p.m. in Buffer's data, with Friday at 4 p.m. its top slot. Thursday 7 to 9 p.m. is where Buffer and SocialPilot overlap. ### What is the worst time to post on YouTube? SocialPilot advises against long videos before 9 a.m. or after 10 p.m. and Shorts between 3 and 7 a.m. or on Sunday evenings. vidIQ's weakest day is Wednesday. ### Does upload time matter on YouTube? A little. vidIQ found the gap between the best and worst upload hours shrank to within a few percent of 30-day views. ### Should I upload before my viewers' peak? Buffer suggests publishing long videos one to two hours before your audience's peak, so the video is live when they arrive. ### Where do I see when my viewers are on YouTube? In YouTube Studio, open Analytics, then the Audience tab, and find When your viewers are on YouTube. It covers the last 28 days. ### Are YouTube best times in my time zone or my viewers'? Your viewers' for Buffer and SocialPilot. vidIQ's hourly charts use Eastern time, and Metricool doesn't say. ### How often should I upload to YouTube? Metricool puts the sweet spot at 2 to 4 long videos a week, and SocialPilot suggests 1 to 2 long videos plus 3 to 5 Shorts. YouTube's advice is to choose a pace you can sustain. ### Does PostMesh upload a scheduled video at the publish time? No. PostMesh uploads the video as private and YouTube makes it public at the time you pick, up to 30 days ahead. ## Sources - [Buffer: Best time to post on YouTube (July 2026)](https://buffer.com/resources/best-time-to-post-on-youtube/) - [SocialPilot: Best time to post on YouTube in 2026 (no publish date shown)](https://www.socialpilot.co/insights/best-time-to-post-on-youtube) - [vidIQ: Best time to post on YouTube (updated June 2026)](https://vidiq.com/blog/post/best-time-publish-video-youtube/) - [Metricool: Best time to post on YouTube (July 2026)](https://metricool.com/best-time-to-post-on-youtube/) - [YouTube Help: Understand your YouTube audience](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9314416?hl=en) - [YouTube Help: Upload schedule tips](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/13616979?hl=en) - [YouTube Help: Upload YouTube videos](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57407?hl=en) - [time.gov (NIST and US Naval Observatory): US time zones](https://www.time.gov/) - [GOV.UK: When do the clocks change?](https://www.gov.uk/when-do-the-clocks-change) - [NIST: Daylight saving time](https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/popular-links/daylight-saving-time-dst)