Tell at exactly what time I watched a YouTube video

Question

I would like to retrace at exactly what time I watched certain YouTube videos. As a background to why I want this information, I record my classes (I'm a professor) and then I later go back to track at what time I said what as a tool to revise my class presentation timing for next time based on the timing. I often play YouTube videos in class, which is recorded in my video. If I know exactly what time in real-time I watched the YouTube video, then that helps me calibrate my class recording to better know at exactly what time I presented what in class.

To tell the time I watched the YouTube videos, I know that I can view my YouTube watch history, but that only gives the sequence and the dates when I watched past videos, not the precise times. I also know that YouTube has a feature where I can see the total amount of time I have been watching videos (mainly to monitor if I'm on YouTube too much), but that does not break down what was watched and when; it only gives total viewing times.

So, how can I tell at exactly what time (and date) I watched a specific YouTube video? I'm sure Google logs this information (they couldn't calculate my total watch time without it), but how can I, as a regular user, have access to this information about my own viewing?

Answer 1

You can view all your Google activity on the My Activity page. This includes exact YouTube video view times and much more. I was surprised to also see my usage of Android apps, my viewing of certain websites with Google tracking, and a lot more. It's scary how much Google knows about my online life.

Answer 2

You have full view and control over your Google history (as well as details on your Google Dashboard.

For your specific issue you can look at your YouTube watch history or view your activity for each product on the Dashboard, which also has a link to My Activity at the bottom of that dashboard page.

Another way to find that history:
1. Go to the dashboard
2. click YouTube
3. click the kebab menu (3 vertical dots)
4. click YouTube History

The Dashboard page has the benefit of listing everything to which Google has connected your account. Control over each connection or software is available there.

Note that unlike many other services, with Google you are able to delete any such listed data as you see fit. Also note that doing so is likely to make search results and ads less useful, but for the severely privacy minded it can be useful.