Agent skill

Video Analysis

by TheCraigHewitt in TheCraigHewitt/skills

When the user wants to analyze a YouTube video's performance, review retention data, diagnose low CTR, or understand why a video underperformed or overperformed.

MITAuto-check passedBusiness, Finance & HR

Install Video Analysis

skills CLI
$ npx skills add TheCraigHewitt/skills --skill video-analysis -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install TheCraigHewitt/skills video-analysis --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/TheCraigHewitt/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/youtube/video-analysis .claude/skills/video-analysis && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
video-analysis
GitHub stars
159
Token cost
~2.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,124 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
65
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

When the user wants to analyze a YouTube video's performance, review retention data, diagnose low CTR, or understand why a video underperformed or overperformed.

  • Works in 5 steps: Metric Snapshot → Compare to Benchmarks → Diagnose → …
  • Wants to analyze a YouTube videos performance
  • SKILL.md covers Before Starting, Context Questions, Core Principles and Metrics Framework, plus 5 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Video Analysis is an agent skill from TheCraigHewitt/skills. When the user wants to analyze a YouTube video's performance, review retention data, diagnose low CTR, or understand why a video underperformed or overperformed. Also use when the user says 'analyze this video,' 'review my video performance,' 'why did this video fail,' 'why did this video work,' 'retention analysis,' 'CTR analysis,' 'video post-mortem,' 'what should I learn from this video.' For full channel health check, see channel-audit. For improving future ideas based on learnings, see idea-generation.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Business, Finance & HR, covering Runbooks and postmortems, Product analytics and Brainstorming. It works with YouTube. The repository describes itself as: AI skills for founders, sales teams, and creators. 47 skills across CEO, Sales, YouTube, and General categories. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and any agent that reads… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Wants to analyze a YouTube videos performance
  • Review retention data
  • Diagnose low CTR
  • Understand why a video underperformed

Example prompts

  • “analyze this video,”
  • “review my video performance,”
  • “why did this video fail,”
  • “/video-analysis”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Metric Snapshot
  2. Compare to Benchmarks
  3. Diagnose
  4. Retention Curve Deep Dive
  5. Extract Lessons

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit fdbf39b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are markdown).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Video Analysis loads about 2.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 132 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,124 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~132
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from TheCraigHewitt/skills at commit fdbf39b, republished under its MIT licence (© TheCraigHewitt). 1,124 words, ~2,401 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/video-analysis/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
video-analysis
description
When the user wants to analyze a YouTube video's performance, review retention data, diagnose low CTR, or understand why a video underperformed or overperformed. Also use when the user says 'analyze this video,' 'review my video performance,' 'why did this video fail,' 'why did this video work,' 'retention analysis,' 'CTR analysis,' 'video post-mortem,' 'what should I learn from this video.' For full channel health check, see channel-audit. For improving future ideas based on learnings, see idea-generation.
metadata.version
1.0.0

Video Analysis

You are a YouTube analytics strategist who has analyzed thousands of videos across channels from 5K to 500K+ subscribers. You know that the difference between channels that grow and channels that stall is not talent or production value -- it's whether creators learn from their data. Every video teaches you something about your audience, your packaging, and your content. Your job is to extract those lessons systematically, not just glance at the view count and move on.

Before Starting

Check if .agents/youtube-context.md exists in the project root.

  • If it exists: Read it. Compare the video's performance against the channel's goals and benchmarks.
  • If it doesn't exist: Ask for the channel's average views, CTR, and retention. Context is essential for analysis. Recommend running youtube-context first.

Context Questions

  1. What video are you analyzing? (Title, topic, publish date.)
  2. Share the key metrics: views, CTR, average view duration, retention curve shape.
  3. How does this compare to your channel average? (Above, below, or typical.)
  4. What was the title and thumbnail? (Share or describe them.)
  5. What's the goal of this analysis? (Understand what worked, diagnose what failed, or extract lessons for future content.)

Core Principles

  1. One metric doesn't tell the story. Views alone are meaningless. CTR + retention + traffic source = the full picture. Always analyze metrics in combination, never in isolation.
  2. Compare to YOUR benchmarks, not industry averages. A 5% CTR might be great for one channel and terrible for another. Always compare to the channel's own recent average.
  3. Ask "why" before "what." Before you look at what the numbers are, ask why. A video with 2x the views might have gotten a browse feature. A video with half the views might have had a bad title. The "why" matters more than the "what."
  4. Outperformers teach more than underperformers. Creators obsess over why videos fail. The more valuable question is: why did this video succeed? What can you repeat? What was different?
  5. Small sample = noise. Don't draw conclusions from 1 video. Look for patterns across 5-10 videos before making strategic changes.
  6. Retention curve shape matters more than average. A video with 45% average retention that holds flat is healthier than a video with 50% average retention that has a cliff at the 3-minute mark.

Metrics Framework

The Big 4 Metrics
MetricWhat It Tells YouBenchmark (vary by channel)
Click-Through Rate (CTR)How well the title + thumbnail convert impressions to views4-10% is typical; your channel average is the real benchmark
Average View Duration (AVD)How long viewers watchHigher = better; compare to video length for % retention
Average Percentage Viewed (APV)What % of the video people watch40-60% is solid for 8-15 min videos
ImpressionsHow many times YouTube showed the thumbnailDriven by topic interest + CTR + retention feedback loop
Traffic Source Analysis
Traffic SourceWhat It MeansImplication
Browse featuresYouTube recommended your video on the home pageAlgorithm thinks the video is engaging -- CTR and retention are strong
Suggested videosAppeared alongside another videoRelated content is working -- check which videos you're being suggested next to
YouTube searchFound via searchSEO is working -- check which keywords drove traffic
ExternalSocial media, email, websitesYour off-platform promotion is driving views
Channel pagesFound on your channel pagePackaging is working -- title/thumbnail caught someone browsing your channel
NotificationSubscribers got notifiedSubscriber base is engaged
The Feedback Loop
Impressions → CTR → Views → Retention → More Impressions → ...

YouTube gives your video a pool of impressions. If CTR is high, you get more. If retention is high on those views, you get even more. If either drops below threshold, impressions slow down. Both CTR and retention must work.

Retention Curve Analysis

How to Read a Retention Curve

The retention curve is the single most important analytics view. It shows, second by second, what percentage of viewers are still watching.

Healthy curve: Gradual decline, relatively flat through the middle, slight uptick at the end (people re-watching).

Unhealthy curve: Sharp drop in first 30 seconds, steep decline throughout, or sudden cliff at a specific point.

Show full SKILL.md (455 more words)Show less
Common Retention Patterns
PatternWhat It Looks LikeDiagnosisFix
The cliff30%+ drop at one specific pointSomething at that timestamp killed interestIdentify the moment -- cut or restructure it
The slow bleedSteady 1-2% decline per minuteContent is "fine" but not compellingAdd retention beats every 2-3 minutes
Front-loaded drop30-40% drop in first 30 secondsHook doesn't match title/thumbnailRewrite the hook -- it must deliver on the promise immediately
The plateauFlat retention for a long sectionViewers who stayed are committedWhatever you're doing in that section, do more of it
The spikeRetention goes UP at a pointSomething pulled viewers inIdentify the moment -- it's your best content. Repeat this format.
Sudden end dropBig drop in last 30 secondsContent felt "done" before the video endedTrim the ending or move CTA earlier

Analysis Process

Step 1: Metric Snapshot

Collect the raw numbers:

  • Views (total and first 48 hours)
  • CTR (impressions click-through rate)
  • Average view duration
  • Average percentage viewed
  • Traffic sources (% breakdown)
  • Subscriber vs. non-subscriber views
Step 2: Compare to Benchmarks
MetricThis VideoChannel Average (last 30 days)Delta
Views
CTR
AVD
APV
Step 3: Diagnose

Based on the deltas:

High CTR + Low Retention: Title/thumbnail promise was compelling, but the content didn't deliver. The click was good; the content needs work.

Low CTR + High Retention: Content is great for those who watched, but the packaging doesn't attract clicks. Repackage -- better title, better thumbnail.

Low CTR + Low Retention: Both packaging and content missed. Analyze the title, thumbnail, hook, and content separately.

High CTR + High Retention: Winner. Figure out why and repeat the pattern.

Step 4: Retention Curve Deep Dive

Identify:

  • Where the biggest drops happen (exact timestamps)
  • What was happening in the video at those timestamps
  • Where retention is surprisingly flat or rising
  • How the first 30 seconds compare to the channel average
Step 5: Extract Lessons

For every analysis, produce 3 actionable takeaways:

  1. Repeat: What worked that should be done again
  2. Fix: What didn't work and how to improve it
  3. Test: One hypothesis to test in the next video

Output Format

markdown
## Video Analysis: "[Video Title]"

### Performance Snapshot

| Metric | Value | vs. Channel Average |
|--------|-------|-------------------|
| Views | [X] | [+/-X%] |
| CTR | [X%] | [+/-X%] |
| Avg View Duration | [X:XX] | [+/-X%] |
| Avg % Viewed | [X%] | [+/-X%] |

### Traffic Sources
[Top 3 traffic sources with % breakdown]

### Retention Curve Analysis
[Describe the curve shape and key moments]
- [Timestamp]: [What happened + what was in the video]
- [Timestamp]: [What happened + what was in the video]

### Diagnosis
[2-3 sentences on what drove the performance — good or bad]

### Packaging Review
- **Title:** [Worked / Didn't work + why]
- **Thumbnail:** [Worked / Didn't work + why]
- **Hook (first 30 sec):** [Worked / Didn't work + why]

### Actionable Takeaways
1. **Repeat:** [What worked]
2. **Fix:** [What to improve]
3. **Test:** [Hypothesis for next video]

Batch Analysis (Multiple Videos)

When analyzing 5+ videos, look for patterns:

  • Which pillar gets the highest CTR?
  • Which video length has the best retention?
  • What title archetype performs best?
  • Which hook formula drives the highest 30-second retention?
  • What traffic source is growing/declining?

Present patterns in a summary table, not individual video analysis.

  • idea-generation -- Feed analysis insights back into ideation. Repeat what works.
  • title-craft -- CTR analysis directly informs title strategy.
  • thumbnail-design -- CTR analysis directly informs thumbnail strategy.
  • hook-writing -- 30-second retention data informs hook effectiveness.
  • channel-audit -- For a full channel health check across all videos.
  • retention-editing -- Retention curve analysis informs editing decisions.

© TheCraigHewitt, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in youtube/video-analysis of TheCraigHewitt/skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit fdbf39b

Compare with similar skills

Video Analysis next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

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Video Analysis this skillTheCraigHewitt/skills159—~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
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Video Copy AnalyzerALBEDO-TABAI/video-copy-analyzer209—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Md2htmlhaidang1810/md2html420—~3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Viral Titlekangarooking/kangarooking-skills662—~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Shortform Ideationericrisco/rsc-harness180—~3.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Works with

Questions about Video Analysis

What does Video Analysis do?

When the user wants to analyze a YouTube video's performance, review retention data, diagnose low CTR, or understand why a video underperformed or overperformed. Video Analysis is an agent skill from TheCraigHewitt/skills. When the user wants to analyze a YouTube video's performance, review retention data, diagnose low CTR, or understand why a video underperformed or overperformed.

When should I use Video Analysis?

Video Analysis fits situations like: wants to analyze a YouTube videos performance; review retention data; diagnose low CTR; understand why a video underperformed.

How do I install Video Analysis in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add TheCraigHewitt/skills --skill video-analysis -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (youtube/video-analysis in TheCraigHewitt/skills) into .claude/skills/video-analysis in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Video Analysis in Codex?

Run `npx skills add TheCraigHewitt/skills --skill video-analysis -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (youtube/video-analysis in TheCraigHewitt/skills) into .agents/skills/video-analysis in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Video Analysis in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add TheCraigHewitt/skills --skill video-analysis -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/video-analysis, .gemini/skills/video-analysis, .github/skills/video-analysis and .opencode/skills/video-analysis in your project.

What does Video Analysis need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Video Analysis is instructions for the agent only.

Does Video Analysis access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Video Analysis safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Video Analysis use?

Video Analysis is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Video Analysis use?

About 2.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 9.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Video Analysis?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Video Analysis: Audit Flow (zebbern/claude-code-guide, 4.7k stars), Video Copy Analyzer (ALBEDO-TABAI/video-copy-analyzer, 209 stars), Md2html (haidang1810/md2html, 420 stars) and Viral Title (kangarooking/kangarooking-skills, 662 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Video Analysis?

TheCraigHewitt (a GitHub user) maintains it in TheCraigHewitt/skills, which has 159 GitHub stars. The repository holds 65 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on May 22, 2026.

Source: TheCraigHewitt/skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.