An alert watches a channel or a folder and flags you when something posted there clears an outlier score you choose.
Creating an alert
From Tracked, create an alert rule against either:
- a single tracked channel, or
- an entire folder — so one rule covers every channel in it
Then set the minimum outlier score that should trigger it.
Choosing a threshold
The threshold is the whole game. Set it too low and the alert becomes noise you learn to ignore.
| Threshold | Use it when |
|---|---|
| 2x | Watching one specific competitor very closely |
| 5x | The sensible default for most folders |
| 10x | Large folders, or channels that post daily |
Start at 5x. If you're getting flagged more than you're acting on, raise it.
What an alert is for
Not to notify you that a channel posted — YouTube already does that. It's to tell you when a channel posted something that worked unusually well for them, which is the only moment worth interrupting your week for.
When one fires, the useful question isn't "what did they make?" It's "what did they do differently, and does it transfer to me?"
Related
- [Track channels and folders](/track-channels-and-folders)
- [Emails from vidfora](/emails-from-vidfora-and-the-pro-trend-digest)