# PrePublish

> PrePublish is a paid YouTube script QA tool you run before recording. It flags hook weakness, pacing risk, and the moments most likely to lose viewers, then gives copy-paste rewrites for hooks, pacing, structure, and titles. It also runs free, instant, no-signup tools for creators, including a free Channel Scan that reports the patterns behind a channel's own best and worst videos.

Disambiguation: PrePublish (prepublish.ai) is an independent product, not affiliated with YouTube, and is unrelated to YouTube Studio's built-in "prepublish checks" upload-screening feature (which checks copyright and ad suitability after a video is uploaded). PrePublish works on the script, before recording.

## Free Tools

- [Free YouTube Channel Audit (Channel Scan)](https://prepublish.ai/tools/youtube-channel-scanner): Paste any channel URL or @handle for a free channel audit built from its own videos: 3 winner patterns and 3 loser patterns with verbatim transcript quotes, the biggest leak with an estimated views cost, and one next-video rule. Public data only, no login.
- [YouTube Title Analyzer](https://prepublish.ai/tools/youtube-title-analyzer): Score a title's click-through potential and get 5 AI rewrites tuned to your niche.
- [YouTube Hook Analyzer](https://prepublish.ai/tools/youtube-hook-analyzer): Paste your first 1-3 sentences for a hook score, hook-type classification, and rewrites.
- [Script Word Counter](https://prepublish.ai/tools/script-word-counter): Word count and estimated runtime for any script; a 10-minute video runs about 1,400 to 1,500 words at 140 to 150 wpm.
- [Words to Minutes Calculator](https://prepublish.ai/tools/words-to-minutes): Convert script word count to video length (and back) at 110/140/170 wpm.
- [Talking Speed Test (WPM)](https://prepublish.ai/tools/talking-speed-test): Measure your words-per-minute and see where it sits for YouTube.
- [How Many Words in a 5 Minute YouTube Script?](https://prepublish.ai/tools/how-many-words-in-a-5-minute-youtube-script): Genre-aware word count ranges for a 5 minute script, computed from speaking paces measured in our 349-video study.
- [How Many Words in an 8 Minute YouTube Script?](https://prepublish.ai/tools/how-many-words-in-an-8-minute-youtube-script): Genre-aware word count ranges for an 8 minute script (the mid-roll ad eligibility length), computed from the 349-video study.
- [How Many Words in a 10 Minute YouTube Script?](https://prepublish.ai/tools/how-many-words-in-a-10-minute-youtube-script): Genre-aware word count ranges for a 10 minute script, computed from speaking paces measured in our 349-video study.
- [How Many Words in a 15 Minute YouTube Script?](https://prepublish.ai/tools/how-many-words-in-a-15-minute-youtube-script): Genre-aware word count ranges for a 15 minute script, computed from speaking paces measured in our 349-video study.
- [YouTube Demonetization Checker](https://prepublish.ai/tools/youtube-monetization-checker): Paste a script for a demonetization-risk score against YouTube's advertiser-friendly guidelines, by policy family, before you record.
- [YouTube Comment Miner](https://prepublish.ai/tools/youtube-comment-miner): Pull video ideas out of a channel's own comment section: recurring questions, requests, and complaints, grouped.
- [Inauthentic Content Checker](https://prepublish.ai/tools/youtube-inauthentic-content-checker): Risk score against YouTube's 2025 inauthentic content / demonetization policy.

## Breakdowns

- [Channel Breakdowns](https://prepublish.ai/breakdowns): Data-backed channel breakdowns generated from public video patterns: what a specific channel's overperformers do differently, quoted from their own transcripts.

Markdown versions: append .md to any /guides, /blog, /compare, or /alternatives URL for a clean markdown rendition of that page (e.g. https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-vidiq.md). The full corpus in one file: https://prepublish.ai/llms-full.txt

## Guides

- [YouTube Audience Retention: Benchmarks + Fixes (2026)](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-retention-guide): What retention is, good-rate benchmarks by length and niche (40-50% is strong for a 10-minute video), and the 10 script problems that sink the curve.
- [The First 30 Seconds](https://prepublish.ai/guides/first-30-seconds): Why most drop-off happens before second 30, the 15-second payoff deadline, and 4 before/after opening rewrites.
- [YouTube Hook Examples](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-hook-examples): 15 copy-paste hook examples by type (curiosity, proof, story, question) with the psychology behind each.
- [Script Structure Guide](https://prepublish.ai/guides/script-structure-guide): How to structure a script for retention: hook, build, payoff, with timing and transitions.
- [How to Write a YouTube Script](https://prepublish.ai/guides/how-to-write-a-youtube-script): The full process from research and outline to hook writing and revision.
- [YouTube Storytelling: 6 Narrative Structures](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-storytelling-narrative-structures): The 6 story structures high-retention videos use, beat by beat.
- [YouTube Pattern Interrupts](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-pattern-interrupts): 14 pattern-interrupt techniques with timing, and which ones backfire.
- [Fix YouTube Retention Drops](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-retention-drop-diagnosis): The 8 retention-curve shapes, what causes each, and the script-level fix.
- [YouTube Watch Time Psychology](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-watch-time-psychology): The cognitive mechanisms (curiosity gaps, cognitive load, sunk cost) that keep viewers watching.
- [YouTube Tutorial Scripts](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-tutorial-scripts): The 6 structural mistakes in tutorial scripts and how to fix them.
- [YouTube Pre-Publish Checklist](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-pre-publish-checklist): Script, filming, editing, SEO, thumbnail, and upload checks with benchmarks.
- [What Is YouTube Script Analysis?](https://prepublish.ai/guides/what-is-youtube-script-analysis): How script analysis maps attention risk and where it fits in a creator workflow.
- [YouTube Shorts Retention](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-shorts-retention): What a good Shorts retention rate is (70-85% strong, 85%+ exceptional), why loops push it over 100%, and how to script for the swipe.
- [Faceless YouTube Channel Scripts](https://prepublish.ai/guides/faceless-youtube-channel-scripts): How to write scripts that carry a channel with no on-camera personality: pacing, structure, AI-draft editing, and voiceover prep.
- [The 7 Best YouTube Script Tools (2026)](https://prepublish.ai/guides/best-youtube-script-tools): Script tools organized by job (research, drafting, auditing, mechanics) with honest verdicts on each, including our own.
- [Best YouTube Script Analyzer (2026)](https://prepublish.ai/guides/best-youtube-script-analyzer): Every tool that can analyze a script compared honestly: PrePublish, ChatGPT, Subscribr, Grammarly, and why vidIQ/TubeBuddy do not qualify. Includes a test for evaluating any analyzer against your own published videos.
- [How to Check a YouTube Script Before Recording](https://prepublish.ai/guides/check-youtube-script-before-recording): A 10-minute manual method: read-aloud hook test, pace math, payoff map, title match, and cut test, plus what a checker catches that self-review cannot.
- [How to Get Feedback on a YouTube Script](https://prepublish.ai/guides/youtube-script-feedback): Where creators get script feedback (communities, script trades, paid review, AI checkers), how to ask so strangers answer, and which notes to act on.
- [How to Increase Watch Time on YouTube](https://prepublish.ai/guides/increase-youtube-watch-time): Watch time = views × average view duration. The 7 script-level fixes that raise AVD, the video-length trap, and the 4,000-hours math for monetization.
- [Do Hooks Matter for Small YouTube Channels?](https://prepublish.ai/guides/do-hooks-matter-small-youtube-channels): A preregistered 941-video study found hit and flop openings nearly identical on channels with 1,000-20,000 subscribers; what that means for where small-channel effort should go.
- [Why Did My YouTube Video Flop?](https://prepublish.ai/guides/why-did-my-youtube-video-flop): The median flop does 0.31x of channel-normal views. The data-backed checking order: topic first, packaging second, script third, and why the opening is rarely the cause on small channels.
- [Does Talking Faster Help YouTube Videos?](https://prepublish.ai/guides/does-talking-faster-help-youtube): No: hits and flops speak at nearly identical pace across 1,290 videos (181 vs 180 wpm on larger channels, 169 vs 170 on small ones).
- [How Fast Should a YouTube Video Get to the Point?](https://prepublish.ai/guides/how-fast-get-to-the-point-youtube): Hits reach their point at word 14, flops at word 15. Speed is not the differentiator; the content of the point is.
- [Should You Start a YouTube Video With a Greeting?](https://prepublish.ai/guides/should-you-start-youtube-video-with-greeting): Greeting openings leaned toward flops in both studies (23.3% vs 16.6% on small channels), the only opening signal that repeated across 1,290 videos.

## Data and Benchmarks

- [YouTube Retention Benchmarks 2026](https://prepublish.ai/blog/youtube-retention-benchmarks-2026): Strong retention runs 35-75% depending on video length, with niche-by-niche brackets. Length brackets rest on Backlinko's 1.3M-video analysis; the niche brackets are aggregated from surveys and secondary reports rather than measured, which our own audit at /blog/gaming-video-retention-benchmarks sets out.
- [The 349-Video Hook Study (2026)](https://prepublish.ai/blog/youtube-hook-study): Original PrePublish research comparing the first 45 seconds of 177 channel overperformers (median 4.7x normal views) against 172 flops (0.28x) across 36 channels and 254M views. Speaking pace (181 vs 180 wpm) and time to first payoff (word 14 vs 15) showed no difference; flops were 60% more likely to give no reason to keep watching, and hits carried specific numbers (63% vs 52%) and matched their title's promise (87% vs 78%) more often.
- [The Small-Channel Replication (2026)](https://prepublish.ai/blog/small-channel-hook-study): Preregistered replication of the hook study on 96 channels with 1,000-20,000 subscribers (941 videos, predictions frozen at osf.io/2zq9p before data collection). None of the three patterns replicated: hit and flop openings were nearly identical, with 94-98.5% power to detect original-sized effects. The one repeating signal: greeting openings leaned toward flops (23.3% vs 16.6%). Full row-level CSV public.
- [Good Average View Duration on YouTube](https://prepublish.ai/blog/good-average-view-duration-youtube): AVD benchmarks by video length and niche, converted from the 2026 retention brackets, plus the script changes that raise AVD.
- [How Long Should a YouTube Video Be in 2026?](https://prepublish.ai/blog/how-long-should-youtube-video-be): No magic runtime; the strongest length is the longest version that holds roughly 40%+ retention. Length guidance by format, and the 8-minute mid-roll myth.
- [Average Percentage Viewed vs Audience Retention](https://prepublish.ai/blog/average-percentage-viewed-vs-audience-retention): APV is the summary number; the retention curve is the diagnosis. Why two videos with the same APV need opposite fixes.
- [Why Your YouTube Video Is Not Getting Views](https://prepublish.ai/blog/youtube-video-not-getting-views): The four failure points (impressions, clicks, retention, audience match) and how to find yours in YouTube Studio in ten minutes.
- [Viewed vs Swiped Away on YouTube Shorts](https://prepublish.ai/blog/viewed-vs-swiped-away-youtube-shorts): The feed-decision metric vs the retention curve, 15/30/60-second Shorts structures, and word-level script economy.

## GTA 6 and Game Launch Strategy

Published 27 August 2026, the day Rockstar released "Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look". GTA 6 ships 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S with no PC version at launch.

- [The GTA 6 Playbook for YouTube Creators](https://prepublish.ai/blog/gta-6-youtube-creator-playbook): The launch-day spike at major game releases is captured by channels that are already large; the durable breakouts arrive later. Strange Man began 13 months after Red Dead Redemption 2 and reached about 529,000 subscribers; Let Me Solo Her emerged in Elden Ring's seventh week; the GTA roleplay boom came seven years after GTA V. Indexed GTA V uploads rose from 99,336 in 2013 to 300,092 in 2015, so supply tripled after launch rather than peaking at it. Includes a format-by-format table of when each peaks, who wins it, and its policy risk.
- [What Rockstar Actually Allows](https://prepublish.ai/blog/gta-6-youtube-copyright-monetization): Rockstar's creator policy, updated 10 January 2025, quoted line by line. It permits gameplay uploads and names six takedown categories: pre-release leaked footage, isolated cutscenes and endings, in-game entertainment in isolation, cheating and money-glitch content, unauthorized mods or ports, and Terms of Service violations. It also grants permission for "non-commercial" use while its takedown list never mentions monetization, a contradiction the document does not resolve. Monetized Let's Plays are tolerated in practice, not authorized in writing.
- [GTA 6 Leaks Are a Copyright Strike, Not a Claim](https://prepublish.ai/blog/gta-6-leaks-youtube-dmca): Rockstar removes pre-release footage "regardless of how the game was obtained". A takedown is a copyright strike, and three strikes in 90 days is grounds for channel termination, unlike a Content ID claim which typically costs only revenue. In August 2026 Take-Two filed DMCA subpoenas in the Southern District of New York seeking account information from Discord, Microsoft, X, and Google.
- [YouTube Monetization Requirements 2027](https://prepublish.ai/blog/youtube-monetization-requirements-2027): On 10 August 2026 YouTube doubled the Partner Program entry bar effective 1 February 2027: 4,000 qualified watch hours becomes 8,000, and 10,000,000 qualified Shorts views becomes 20,000,000. The 1,000-subscriber requirement is unchanged and existing partners are unaffected. Because grandfathering protects accepted channels rather than eligible ones, and review takes "typically in about 1 month", the practical deadline is closer to 31 December 2026. 4,000 watch hours is 240,000 watch minutes: 60,000 views at a 4-minute average view duration, 20,000 at 12 minutes.
- [A Repeatable Strategy for Any Game Launch](https://prepublish.ai/blog/game-launch-youtube-strategy): Launches have two shapes. Front-loaded ones concentrate attention at access (Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy); slow builds grow through players (Helldivers 2 peaked on day eleven of its first twelve days). The four repeatable win mechanisms are access advantage, accumulated expertise, narrow searchable utility, and title-native persona.
- [Gaming Video Retention Benchmarks Do Not Exist](https://prepublish.ai/blog/gaming-video-retention-benchmarks): No measured per-niche retention benchmark for gaming has been published, including in our own benchmarks report, which is audited in the article. The real public anchors are vidIQ's self-disclosed 30.3% average percentage viewed across 16.5 million long-form views and the leaked MrBeast document treating the loss of 21 million of 60 million viewers in the first minute as "reasonably good". Your own channel median is the only defensible benchmark.
- [No-Commentary Gameplay on YouTube](https://prepublish.ai/blog/no-commentary-gameplay-youtube): The format that scales fastest in a launch window and sits closest to YouTube's inauthentic content policy, which replaced the repetitious content rule on 15 July 2025 and was clarified on 16 July 2026. Raw uncommentated gameplay may not be accepted for monetization without added value.
- [Shorts in a Game Launch Window](https://prepublish.ai/blog/game-launch-youtube-shorts): The Shorts route into the Partner Program demands roughly ten to twenty times more actual watch time than the long-form route for the same result: at a 20-second average, 10,000,000 Shorts views is about 55,000 hours against a 4,000-hour long-form door. Shorts feed watch time does not count toward the long-form threshold. Shorts are a discovery surface, not a monetization route.
- [The Trailer Breakdown Video](https://prepublish.ai/blog/trailer-breakdown-video): The fastest-decaying format in gaming and one of the most reliable inside a launch window. The fast lane versus the slow lane, the findings hierarchy, and why a specific-count title beats a generic one in a saturated moment.
- [Should You Start a Gaming Channel for GTA 6?](https://prepublish.ai/blog/start-gaming-channel-2026): A channel starting from zero on 7 September 2026 will not reach monetization before the bar doubles, so that is the wrong reason to start. The right one is that a launch resets search authority on thousands of specific queries for a few weeks, which is the only time a channel with no history can win one.

## Templates and Hook Library

- [Script Templates](https://prepublish.ai/templates): Copy-paste YouTube script templates for gaming, tutorials, reviews, shorts, and more.
- [Hook Types](https://prepublish.ai/hooks): Hook formulas by type: curiosity gap, proof, story, question, controversial, tutorial, shorts, listicle.

## Comparisons

- [PrePublish vs VidIQ](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-vidiq): Script retention analysis vs keyword/SEO tooling.
- [PrePublish vs TubeBuddy](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-tubebuddy): Pre-record script fixes vs channel management.
- [PrePublish vs Thumblytics](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-thumblytics): Script analysis vs thumbnail testing.
- [PrePublish vs ChatGPT](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-chatgpt): Attention-risk mapping plus audits checked against your own channel's winners vs a blank chatbox.
- [Best VidIQ Alternatives](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/vidiq-alternative): The best VidIQ alternatives by job: TubeBuddy like-for-like, 1of10 and OutlierKit for research, PrePublish for retention.
- [TubeBuddy Alternative](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/tubebuddy-alternative): For creators fixing scripts, not managing uploads.
- [Thumblytics Alternative](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/thumblytics-alternative): For creators losing viewers after the click, not before it.
- [ChatGPT Alternative for Scripts](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/chatgpt-alternative): Structured script QA vs a blank chatbox.
- [PrePublish vs Subscribr](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-subscribr): Script auditing vs AI script generation. Subscribr writes; PrePublish predicts if it will retain.
- [PrePublish vs Spotter Studio](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-spotter-studio): Script retention audits vs ideation and packaging. Adjacent stages, honest breakdown.
- [PrePublish vs 1of10](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-1of10): Script quality control vs outlier research. What to make vs whether your version holds.
- [Best Subscribr Alternatives](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/subscribr-alternative): Subscribr alternatives by job: ChatGPT or Claude for drafting, 1of10 for research, PrePublish for retention QA.
- [Spotter Studio Alternative](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/spotter-studio-alternative): For Shorts creators and regions Spotter Studio excludes, and anyone whose bottleneck is retention.
- [Tools Like 1of10](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/1of10-alternative): Tools like 1of10 by job: OutlierKit like-for-like, vidIQ and TubeBuddy for SEO suites, PrePublish for script QA after research.
- [PrePublish vs OutlierKit](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-outlierkit): Niche and competitor research vs script retention audits. OutlierKit picks the topic; PrePublish checks your draft will hold.
- [PrePublish vs Retention Rabbit](https://prepublish.ai/compare/prepublish-vs-retention-rabbit): Script-stage prediction vs finished-video prediction. Fixes cost a rewrite with PrePublish, a reshoot after Rabbit Prep.
- [OutlierKit Alternative](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/outlierkit-alternative): For creators who know what to make but keep losing viewers after the click.
- [Retention Rabbit Alternative](https://prepublish.ai/alternatives/retention-rabbit-alternative): For creators who want an attention-risk map before recording, not after the edit.

## Product

- [Homepage](https://prepublish.ai): Free script check and channel scan first, paid audit second. YouTube Studio tells you why a video failed after publishing. PrePublish flags where your script is most likely to lose attention before you record.
- [Pricing](https://prepublish.ai/pricing): Free script check (scores + the biggest flagged issue). Full audit on the Creator plan: $19/month, or $200/year ($16.67/mo billed annually). Contact Us for enterprise or agency teams.
- [FAQ](https://prepublish.ai/faq): Common questions on accuracy, formats, pricing, and privacy.

## Pricing

- Free script check: paste a script, get scores and the single biggest predicted drop-off. No account required.
- Creator: $19/month, or $200/year (works out to $16.67/mo). Up to 50 audits/day, full copy-paste rewrites, title A/B variants, and PDF export. See https://prepublish.ai/pricing
- Guarantee: If your first audit does not find at least 3 specific script problems you can fix before recording, email us within 14 days and we will refund you.
- Enterprise / Agency: Contact Us for team workflows, higher limits, and custom support.
- The Channel Scan and all tools above are free. The full script audit is paid (Creator plan).

## FAQ

- How does it work? AI analyzes the script for retention patterns and predicts drop-off points second by second.
- Formats supported? MP4, MOV, WebM, MP3, WAV, M4A, or paste text.
- Privacy? Uploaded files are processed and then deleted. The Channel Scan uses public data only; channel owners can opt out.

## Contact

- Website: https://prepublish.ai
- Support: https://prepublish.ai/contact

## Full Content

- [llms-full.txt](https://prepublish.ai/llms-full.txt): Full text of every guide and comparison (tables and FAQs inline) in one file.