End Screens
End screens overlay the final 5-20 seconds of a long-form video (Shorts do not support them) and act as the creator's last chance to direct the next click. They support up to four elements: a video or playlist link, a subscribe prompt, a channel link, and an approved external link (memberships, merch, or website for eligible channels). Well-designed end screens can lift session continuation by 30-50%.
End screens are the interactive elements YouTube creators add to the last 5-20 seconds of a video — links to other videos, playlists, subscribe buttons, or external destinations.
Why End Screens matters for YouTube creators
End screens directly affect both your channel's session metrics (does this viewer watch another of your videos?) and YouTube's session metrics (does this viewer stay on YouTube?). A strong end-screen click-through extends the average viewer's session, which the algorithm reads as a positive signal and rewards with more Suggested placements. End screens are also one of the few places where the creator controls "what comes next" — instead of leaving the decision to the autoplay algorithm, you can recommend the right follow-up video for the topic.
End Screens in practice
A tutorial channel structures every video to end with a 12-second outro that previews the next tutorial in the series — end-screen click-through averages 14% and session length per visitor jumps from 8 to 19 minutes.
A creator stops using end screens in the last second of a video; click-through drops by 40% because viewers leave before the elements appear long enough to act on.
See End Screens on real channels
FameLifter pulls public end screens data for 500K+ YouTube channels — refreshed hourly via the official YouTube Data API v3.