YouTube has over 122 million active users, but is your Shorts content getting the attention it deserves? Timing matters—even great content can go unnoticed if posted at the wrong time.
To succeed, you need to know the best times to upload your Shorts. Should you post in the morning, afternoon, or evening? Weekdays or weekends?
In this guide, we'll share peak times for each day and show you how to schedule your YouTube Shorts for maximum reach. Plus, we'll introduce a tool to help you create and post at the perfect moment.
In this article
Part 1: How to Figure out the Best Time to Upload on YouTube?
Although there's research on the best times to post YouTube shorts, it's better to do your research before moving with those times.

Source: Biteable
- YouTube Analytics: Check your audience’s most active times, age, gender, and location. Use this info to plan your posting schedule.
- Content-Type: Schedule shorts when your target viewers are free. Lifestyle videos do better in evenings; educational/DIY work well on weekday afternoons.
- Demographics: If your audience is global, post at times that suit multiple time zones.
- Competitors: Observe when similar creators post and how their videos perform. Use this to find the best posting times for yourself.
Part 2: Best Times to Post on YouTube – Day-by-Day Breakdown
While the best time may vary for each channel, multiple studies have shown that weekdays during the afternoon times, 3 to 6 pm, are most favorable for posting. Among them, Friday between 3 to 4 pm is the best time to post shorts on YouTube.
Here's a general breakdown of how the trend varies across weekdays and why:
Day |
Best Time to Post |
Reason |
Monday |
4 to 5 p.m. |
Late afternoon sees an uptick in engagement as viewers finish work or school. |
Tuesday |
2 p.m. |
Coincides with lunch breaks and mid-afternoon lulls. |
Wednesday |
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
Midweek is prime time for catching viewers during breaks. |
Thursday |
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. |
Evenings are particularly active as viewers relax after work. |
Friday |
3 to 6 p.m. |
High engagement as the work week ends and viewers unwind. |
Saturday & Sunday |
10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. |
Late morning and evening are peak engagement times on weekends. |
Part 3: How to Create and Schedule YouTube Shorts with Filmora
Filmora, the video editing tool with rich YouTube Shorts templates, not only lets you create YouTube-friendly shorts from existing long videos but also allows for scheduling them for the peak times.
You can utilize tools to get an idea of the best times to upload YouTube Shorts. One option is the video editing app, Wondershare Filmora. It has multiple AI Features that favor short content like:
- Short Video Creation: FIlmora lets you convert all your long and existing videos in YouTube shorts in just a few clicks.
- AI-backed Shorts Editing: The YT short videos can be enhanced and edited through multiple AI tools within the software, reducing the creation time by tenfold.
- Shorts Scheduling: Filmora's Social Video Planner lets you schedule your short videos on multiple social media platforms, like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo, and more. This helps you post content at the best times regularly.
- Best Time Suggestion: It also suggests best times to post after analyzing the algorithm and trends of respective media platforms.
Creating a YouTube Short on Wondershare Filmora
Filmora's Smart Short Clips uses AI to pick up the key moments of the video, automatically adds interactive captions, and generates a virality score video based on the respective platform policies. After the short video is generated, you get a comprehensive suite of AI-editing features to try on your video before uploading.
Want to explore making a short video on Filmora? Here's how:
Step 1: Download the latest version of Wondershare through their official website. Launch it, and select 'Smart Short Clips'. Pick up the long video file you want to convert into short clips and upload.

Step 2: Enter the 'Project Info' i.e. the video language, duration of shorts, theme, and the template for a short video. After selection, hit 'Generate'. The software takes a couple of minutes to generate a video.

Step 3: You get a virality score for the video and the option to edit it. Press 'Edit' and it takes it to the advanced editing features.

Step 4: Within the software, you can fully customize captions, and make voice translations with AI. Even background music and stock media can be added at this point.

Scheduling the YouTube for the Best Times
Filmora's also lets you schedule YouTube for the best time. You can directly upload it to YouTube and other social media platforms, from the editing interface.
To schedule upload a video on YouTube through Filmora, first follow the steps as described in the earlier section and then continue from here:
Step 1: Select the 'Export' button, located on the top right.

Step 2: Fill in the video details. Add its 'Title', 'Description', and 'Category'. If you to customize the video output, select 'Advanced Settings' and make tweaks.

Step 3: Turn on the 'Schedule' toggle and choose the date and time, you want it to go public. The software also suggests the best times for uploading shorts – you can consider them as well.

Conclusion
Posting randomly might work for some, but if you want to consistently stay ahead, timing is key. By uploading your YouTube Shorts at the right times, you can make sure your shorts reach the largest possible audience. The AI-backed video editing app, Filmora, not only pinpoints the best times to post on YT but also automates your schedule.