YouTube is an incredibly popular online video-sharing platform that helps you to view as well as share different kinds of videos from DIY-hacks, entertainment videos to educational videos. Any video that is uploaded on YouTube is accessible by users worldwide. As a matter of fact, “More than 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube daily”. Incredible…isn’t it? That’s why many content creators are leveraging the platform to gain virality and thereby make huge money. However, there are times when you don’t want to share a video with the world, but you only want a few people to access it. In such cases, the unlisted video serves handy. What exactly does unlisted mean on Youtube mean and how you can do that? We’ll answer these questions and many such questions in this post.

So, let’s begin!

Unlisted videos on YouTube: 101 guide

Let’s understand the whole concept of unlisted videos on YouTube right from the basics:

What is an Unlisted YouTube Video?

An unlisted video is a kind of a video that neither appears on your channel nor in the search results or suggestions. If you unlist a video, your subscribers won’t’ receive any information about it even when you upload it through your account. Only the users who have the link to the video can watch it.

You can share the video’s link with those you want. Furthermore, even people who don’t even have an account on YouTube can access and view the video. In a nutshell, only if you share the link of unlisted video, it can be viewed.

Why Use Unlisted YouTube Videos?

You may think that there’s no point in unlisting videos if it’s not visible as you can’t gain virality. However, there are some cases where unlisting a video might serve well:

When you want to share videos only with your close friends and family members.
In case of a webinar or other video content that you want to share with select customers and prospects.
When you want to get rid of old videos, but still want to grant access to those who embedded it.
When you created a video for research purposes and only intend to get feedback from co-workers.
For sharing online resumes during job applications.

Unlisted videos, as you could see, come with manifold benefits!

But now the question arises– How unlisted YouTube videos are different from private videos?

Let’s find out!

Private vs. Unlisted Video on YouTube

Private videos are videos that can be shared only with specific people. It doesn’t matter whether the person has a link or not, they can only watch the video if you grant them access. When you share a private video with a person, they cannot share the video further. A private video can be used to share and save an organization’s confidential information. You can create a private video for webinar purposes and schedule it so that it can be viewed by users at a particular time. However, it’s not for you if you want to share your private video with hundreds of your friends. Unfortunately, YouTube only allows the sharing of private videos with 50 users.

In the case of unlisted videos, people just need the link of the video to access it. You can share it with multiple users and they can also forward it. However, it won’t show in searches and the only way to access unlisted video is through its link.

How to Create Unlisted Video on YouTube

If you want to create an unlisted YouTube video, use these instructions:

Step1: Go to Your YouTube Channel and Add a Video

The first step is to make sure you are logged in to your YouTube channel. After that, go to your YouTube homepage and click the ‘add video’ button (it looks like a little video camera) in the upper-right corner. Now click on ‘upload video’ from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: Go to Your YouTube Video Settings & Choose Unlisted

Now, here’s the crucial part, i.e. choosing your video’s privacy settings on YouTube. For that, click on “Public” and then select “Unlisted” from the drop-down menu.

Step 3: Upload Your Video

After that, your screen will show the message “select files to upload”. If you’ve not followed step two and rather uploaded the video first, you can still make your video unlisted before publishing.

Once you start uploading your video, you’ll see a screen. There, you’ll find a menu on the right side that starts with the word “Public.” After clicking on “Public,” you can choose “unlisted” from the drop-down menu.

Step 4: Publish Your YouTube Video

Next, select the “Done” button in the upper-right corner of the YouTube video to finally publish it!

Step 5: Share the Link

Once you have successfully published the video, a page will appear that shows the link to the video. Make sure to copy the URL provided and share it.

How to Share Your Old Unlisted Video?

You can even share your old unlisted videos. If you’ve published your video months, weeks, or just a few days ago and you intend to share it, you can follow the instructions below:

Step 1: Go to YouTube Studio and Watch your videos

You can start by watching all your videos. Next, you can go to the video manager on your YouTube Studio.

Step 2: View the Unlisted Video on YouTube

Next, you have to click on the row of the YouTube video that you want to share. After that, place your mouse near the title of the video. Once you’re done, you will see a small YouTube icon. On hovering over that icon, you will see the option “View on YouTube”. Click on it!

Step 3: Click on the Share Button

On viewing the video, you’ll find the share button in it. You can share the videos on different social media platforms via the link, or embed your unlisted video. The available options for sharing are:

Link sharing: If you want to share the video link via email or text message
Embedding: To embed your video, you’ll need a code. For that, click on the first button under “Share a link.”
Social media shares: You can share the platform where you want to share the video. It can be Facebook, Twitter, or other platforms.

You just have to click on the “share” button and select a suitable option! You file is then shared with the users.

So, this was all about unlisted videos on YouTube. Hope you enjoyed reading!