Best Time to Post on YouTube in 2026 (Shorts and Videos)

Short answer: Sunday at 10 a.m. for long-form videos and Friday at 4 p.m. for Shorts, in your local time, according to Buffer's 2026 data on about 1.8 million videos. The catch: YouTube says publish time is not known to impact a video's long-term performance, so treat these hours as a starting test.

Best time to post on YouTube in 2026: what the data says

Three studies give a range, not one hour: late morning for long-form videos and late afternoon for Shorts. They use different samples, from about 1.8 million videos to 40.2 million uploads. Compare them below, then check your own audience.

Study	Long-form videos	Shorts
Buffer, 2026, about 1.8 million videos	Sunday 10 a.m., Sunday 9 a.m., Friday 12 p.m.	Friday 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Metricool, 2026, 799,718 videos	Highest activity from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.	Best from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
vidIQ, 40.2 million US long-form uploads	Sunday about 3.5% above a channel's average day	Not covered

Buffer says its times are local; Metricool and vidIQ do not state a zone.

Does the time you post on YouTube matter?

For most videos it matters little. YouTube Help says publish time is not known to impact long-term performance, because recommendations aim to reach the right viewers whenever a video went up. Timing matters most for Premieres and live streams, where viewers must arrive together, so pick a time your own audience is online.

Two details help if you do time uploads. Buffer advises publishing long-form videos one to two hours before your audience's peak, so YouTube has time to process and start testing the video. And vidIQ reports that gaps between the best and worst upload hours shrank to within a few percent by day 30. Titles, thumbnails and the first 30 seconds will matter more than the clock.

Best time to post long-form videos

Late morning is the common thread: Sunday at 10 a.m. is the single best slot in Buffer's data, and Metricool's wider range is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The contrast is sharp in Buffer's numbers: Sunday at 10 a.m. scored an engagement factor of 0.95, while Thursday at 2 p.m. scored 0.11, one of the lowest slots of the week.

Buffer's best days were Sunday, Tuesday and Monday, and its weakest were Wednesday and Thursday. If you cannot post on Sunday, Friday at noon is Buffer's third-best slot.

Best time to post YouTube Shorts

Shorts did best on Friday evenings in Buffer's data: 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. were the top three slots, and Friday, Saturday and Thursday the best days. Buffer found Shorts generally underperform from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., except on Fridays, while Metricool points to 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Best day to post on YouTube

Sunday is the best day for long-form videos in both Buffer and vidIQ, and Friday is the best day for Shorts in Buffer. The gaps between days are small, so use the day as a tiebreaker, not a rule. Wednesday and Thursday are the weak days in Buffer's long-form data.

Day	Buffer, long-form	vidIQ, views vs channel average
Sunday	Best day	About +3.5%
Monday	Third best	About even
Tuesday	Second best	About -1.4%
Wednesday	Weak	About -2.2%
Thursday	Weak	About -1.6%

Sources: Buffer and vidIQ. vidIQ compared each video's 30-day views with its own channel's usual performance. It also puts Saturday at about +2.2% and Friday at about -0.5%.

How to find your best time to upload

Your best time is when your own viewers are online. Open the When your viewers are on YouTube report in YouTube Analytics, try two or three slots over several uploads with the format and length steady, and compare early views separately, since early views are where timing helps most.

To schedule, open the Schedule card in YouTube Studio's upload flow and set the date, time and time zone, as described in YouTube Help. For Shorts, see our guide to scheduling YouTube Shorts. SociaHive's content scheduler can also schedule YouTube video uploads from the same composer you use for other networks, with 30 free posts a month. To compare networks, read the best time to post on social media, and plan the week with the social media calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best time to post a song on YouTube?

Friday is the convention for new music. The recording industry body IFPI announced in 2015 that new music would be released worldwide on Fridays at 00:01 local time, so fans expect songs then. It is a release-day habit, not a YouTube ranking rule. If you release a song as a Premiere, choose the moment your fans can gather.

Is it better to schedule YouTube Shorts?

Scheduling is fine, and the exact minute matters less for Shorts. Buffer notes that Shorts are resurfaced over days or weeks, so the first hour counts for less than it does for long-form videos. Schedule them to a consistent rhythm and judge them after a week, not an hour.

How long should I test an upload time?

Compare several uploads at each slot before you judge it. About four weeks per slot is a practical rule, not a figure from any study. Keep the video format and length steady so the time is the only change, and test longer if you upload rarely.

Does the time zone matter for YouTube uploads?

Yes, if your viewers live elsewhere. Buffer reports its hours in local time, so 10 a.m. means 10 a.m. for the viewer. Choose a slot around where most of your audience lives, which YouTube Analytics shows, and set the time zone when you schedule in Studio.

Sources

1. Buffer, Best Time to Post on YouTube: Data from 1.8M Videos
2. Metricool, When is the Best Time to Post on YouTube?
3. vidIQ, Best Time to Post on YouTube: What 40 Million Videos Actually Show
4. YouTube Help, YouTube performance FAQ & Troubleshooting
5. YouTube Help, Schedule video publish time
6. Official Charts, Friday confirmed as global release day for new music