How does YouTube count views?

If you visit YouTube on any given day, you’ll be sure, to find a recently-published a video, that’s been viewed millions of times in mere days.

• What do those views come from?
• What exactly counts as a ‘view’
• And what doesn’t?

For those who are curious, or if you’re a marketer looking to expand your strategy onto a platform, with over 2 billion users, YouTube has the answer. Let’s find out, what are YouTube views and the mechanics behind counting views? 

“What counts as a view on YouTube?”

A view counts on YouTube when:

• one; it’s a viewer initiated intended play, and
• two; the video has been DE spammed by YouTube’s algorithm.

In other words, the video was played by a human on one device, and YouTube confirms it to be a legitimate view. More than that, there’s a magic number of views; 300. Once a video reaches 300 views, YouTube temporarily “freezes” the view count to confirm, that those are indeed legitimate plays by real humans. It system begins to track incoming views, as well as, the first 300. It can delete fraudulent views, as they’re identified. Once the initial screening process is over, the view counter goes back to normal, but YouTube will continue monitoring for fake views on every video. 

“How YouTube detects artificial views?”

Luckily, YouTube has gotten pretty good at spotting artificial views. Some of the signs they look for include:

• views, reloaded: this is the classic case of a single user constantly refreshing the video, to bring those numbers up.
• Viruses: If a video looks like malware-software designed to harm your computer, server, or network-it gets deleted.
• Website auto play: If the video is set up to auto play on a website, that doesn’t count as a view. 

“Do your own views count on YouTube?”

Yes, your own views count if you play your own YouTube video-but only if you do it once or twice, not if you constantly refresh the page. Why does YouTube count my own views? YouTube’s algorithm sees you just as it sees any other user, so your view will be counted. 

“Do replays count as views on YouTube?”

Yes, but only if the replays seem natural. If you replay a video once it will count as a view. However, if you constantly refresh the page too artificially up the count, YouTube will pinpoint this as a spamming practice (see the views reloaded definition above).

“Are YouTube views unique?”

No. YouTube’s views aren’t unique; replays and re-visits are counted in the view count. You can see your number of unique viewers in your YouTube analytics dashboard. “How often does YouTube update the view count?” Though YouTube doesn’t publish this information, we know, that it updates views approximately every 24 to 48 hours. It does not update views instantly. 

“Do embedded YouTube videos count?”

Yes, embedded YouTube video views count, when the video is embedded into the content of the page, and a user purposely clicks on the video to play it. And auto play embed video may not count. A background video (that is you placed the YouTube video in the background of your website) will not count.

“Do Facebook views count on YouTube?”

Yes, Facebook views count on YouTube. They don’t count, however, if you manually download the video from YouTube, and upload it too Facebook. 

“YouTube guidelines for videos and views”.

If you’re thinking of implementing a YouTube marketing strategy, it’s critical to adhere to YouTube’s guidelines. If you don’t, your videos will be deleted. Viewership has its own set of guidelines and is taken very seriously. If a video reaches a certain number of views and falls within the guidelines, it’s eligible to make money.

For the most updated information on proper video protocol., review YouTube’s guidelines regularly, especially when they announce changes for creators. It can be a bit tricky, to decipher the mechanics of YouTube. But YouTube uses a system, that carefully and cleverly monitors viewership, so it can deliver the most authentic experience to its creators and users. By counting views before fake views turn into a real problem, YouTube keeps its platform clean from spam. 

“Count your YouTube views to measure performance.”

Knowing how many people view your video is important. You can tell whether your title is compelling, whether your thumbnail is effective, and whether your content is watch-worthy based on views alone. By measuring your YouTube views, you can successfully pivot your strategy, to grow your YouTube channel.

Thank you! See you, in the next video lesson.