Channel Audit & Back-Catalog Optimizer
Your back-catalog is full of reach you're not using. This spreadsheet ranks every video by impressions × CTR-gap × retention to surface the few worth re-titling, gives each a Refresh / Leave / Retire verdict, and models the impressions you could recover — all from your own numbers.
TL;DR
The cheapest growth lever isn't a new video — it's a new title/thumbnail on an old one that already gets impressions but under-clicks. This ranks your whole catalog by impressions × CTR-gap × retention, returns Refresh / Leave / Retire against your own medians, and models the impressions a refresh could recover — conservatively, never a promise.
instant download · .xlsx · yours to keep
The problem
Your best growth lever is sitting in your old uploads.
Videos that already earn impressions but under-click are the cheapest wins on a channel — a new title or thumbnail, no new footage. The hard part is knowing which ones, and not wasting a weekend on the wrong list.
of a channel's potential views sit in old videos with reach but a weak title or thumbnail.
are actually worth refreshing. Spending effort on the wrong ones is how creators burn weekends.
Without a rank, you re-thumbnail by gut — usually the video you happen to remember, not the one with upside.
What's inside
The audit, live.
Edit any number — this is the actual logic from the workbook.
| Video | Impr. | CTR % | View % | Age | Priority | Recover | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| My $0 home studio | 241 | 3,929 | REFRESH | ||||
| Old vlog: launch week | 174 | — | RETIRE | ||||
| How I edit in 20 min | 0 | — | LEAVE | ||||
| Why your hook fails | 0 | — | LEAVE | ||||
| Color grading basics | 0 | — | LEAVE |
Edit any number to re-rank live — same math as the workbook. Recovery assumes a refresh closes half the CTR gap; it's a modeled estimate, not a promise. Reference 2026-06-18. Resets on reload.
This is the live engine. The full YouTube Packaging & Retention Engine runs a two-proportion significance test on your thumbnail A/Bs — so you know when a win is statistically real, not just noise. And it diagnoses CTR × retention together across the channel: packaging problem vs content problem.
Get the kit — $49The standard
Three rules it holds to.
Reach × gap × retention
A video earns a refresh only when it has impressions to work with, a CTR below your median, and enough retention to be worth resurfacing. All three, or it isn't a target.
Your medians, not a benchmark
'Underperforming' means below your own median CTR and view percentage — computed from the videos you enter, so it fits your channel and niche.
Honest recovery math
The impressions-recovered figure assumes a refresh closes half the CTR gap and is modeled from the video's own numbers. An estimate to prioritize by — not a promise.
How it works
Four steps, start to shortlist.
Pull your numbers
Grab each video's last-90-day impressions, CTR, average view %, and age from your analytics.
Paste them in
Drop them into the blue columns. Medians, priority scores, and verdicts compute live.
Sort by priority
Work the top REFRESH videos first — those are the highest-ROI titles and thumbnails on your channel.
Refresh and re-check
Rewrite the title, redo the thumbnail, and re-run the audit a couple of weeks later to see the lift.
What you'll see
The worked example, at a glance.
The Optimizer ships pre-filled with this example so you can see how it ranks and reads before you enter your own catalog.
- Your medians: CTR 3.5% · view 41% · impressions 56,000
- “My $0 home studio” — 110k impr, 2.8% CTR → REFRESH (priority 864, ~13,750 modeled recovered)
- “Color grading basics” — 91k impr, 3.0% CTR → REFRESH (priority 422)
- “Why your hook fails” — 7.5% CTR, already above median → LEAVE
- “Old vlog: launch week” — 600 days, 16% view → RETIRE
- Roll-up: 3 REFRESH · 4 LEAVE · 1 RETIRE · ~26,623 modeled impressions recovered
Who it's for
Clear about the lane. No inflated promises.
Built for you if…
- Creators with a back-catalog of 20+ videos and no system for what to refresh
- Anyone re-thumbnailing by gut who wants a ranked, defensible list
- Channels whose old videos still get impressions but under-click
Not for you if…
- Brand-new channels with too few videos to compute meaningful medians
- Teams needing statistical A/B significance on thumbnails — that's the YouTube Packaging & Retention Engine
Pairs well with
Start here, step up when you're testing seriously.
YouTube Packaging & Retention Engine
The step up: a two-proportion significance test on your thumbnail A/Bs, and CTR × retention diagnosis across the channel.
Short-Form Hook & Retention Lab
The sister Quick Kit — score a hook before you post and log 3-second retention against your baseline.
Organic Social & Short-Form Video System
The creation system — content pillars, a hook engine, and a cadence you can actually keep.
Common Questions
The questions creators actually ask before auditing a catalog.
Get the Optimizer
Stop guessing which videos to refresh.
Instant download, yours to keep, with 12 months of updates. Rank the catalog, refresh the winners, and put your old reach back to work.
- One .xlsx: Start Here, Dashboard, Back-Catalog Audit
- Priority ranker (impressions × CTR-gap × retention) + Refresh / Leave / Retire
- Modeled 'impressions recovered' per refresh · against your own medians
- Works in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers · no subscription