How do I read my retention graph?

The Diagnosis

The retention graph is the most honest document your video produces, and it only takes four shapes to read. The cliff — the early drop — exists on every video; its steepness against your own baseline is the variable, and a brutal one means the open got judged and lost. The slope — the steady downward grade after the cliff — is your pacing verdict; gentle is normal, steep means the video keeps giving viewers permission to leave. The dip — a localized drop — is a dead section; go watch your video at that exact timestamp and the answer will be on screen, usually a stretch where nothing changed. The bump — a rise or spike — is gold: people rewound to see that moment twice, so study it and manufacture more of whatever it was. Averages are moods; timestamps are instructions. Read the shapes, then edit where they point.