What actually drives clicks on the cards and end screens inside your videos — and how to check it per video.
This page is AlgoLens's own analysis, not an official statement from YouTube. It's meant to help you read your own channel's numbers.
TL;DR — Card CTR is the share of card or end-screen impressions that get clicked. It's a different metric from YouTube Studio's impressions CTR — see What does CTR mean on YouTube? for that distinction. This page focuses on what typically affects card CTR and how to check it per video. (It's also one of the audience-response signals behind your AlgoLens Score.)
Definition
The share of card or end-screen impressions that were actually clicked. Creators check it to see how often the links or next videos suggested inside a video get clicked.
What affects card CTR
Card CTR depends heavily on what the card or end screen actually offers, rather than on the video as a whole. A card pointing to a closely related video tends to behave differently than one pointing to something unrelated, and where in the video it appears matters too — which is why it's worth checking per video rather than as one channel-wide average.
What to do
1
Check card CTR per video, not as a single channel-wide number — it depends heavily on what the card or end screen actually offers (a related video vs. an unrelated one).
2
Compare card CTR across your own videos to see which end-screen or card choices tend to get clicked more.
3
If card CTR stays consistently low across most of your videos, that points to the card or end-screen content itself (what's being offered) rather than any single video being an outlier.
Where AlgoLens helps
AlgoLens's Video Analysis tab shows card CTR for each video next to its retention curve and drop-off point, so you can see whether the video holds attention and converts that attention into another watch.