What are YouTube views?
A YouTube view represents the number of times a video has been watched for the YouTube-defined minimum duration.
The view count is displayed as a natural number or positive integer such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ...
If someone watched 20% of a video and 20% is longer than YouTube's minimum viewing duration, it counts as 1 view and not 0.2 views.
In addition to its value for YouTube analytics, views also have an informal use to communicate value to content creators and viewers.
YouTubers see a high view count on their videos as an indicator of success that their YouTube channel is doing well.
Many viewers perceive a high view count as social proof that a video is of good quality and worth watching.
In this article, I will dissect how YouTube measures views, the differences between real and legitimate views vs. fake views, and compare how YouTube measures views with other social media networks.
How does YouTube count views?
It's worth mentioning that YouTube never publicly admitted how exactly it counts video views. But there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that allows us to get close to the truth! 🙂
Let us start by discussing YouTube's intention when it comes to measuring views.
YouTube wants to create an accurate and fair measurement of views that is based on actual views from real users. Bot views should not be included in this calculation.
That is the reason why YouTube doesn't want to share the nitty-gritty details because it could help bad actors to create undetectable view bots.
Here is what we know.
YouTube has very clear definitions of how paid advertising views are measured.
"If your video is used as an ad on YouTube, we may count views of your ad as views on your video. These paid advertising views are counted as views because they indicate that a viewer interacted with the video."
- Skippable in-stream ads: Paid advertising views will be counted as views when:
- Someone watches a complete ad that is 11-30 seconds long.
- Someone watches at least 30 seconds of an ad that is more than 30 seconds long.
- Someone interacts with the ad.
- In-feed video ads: Paid advertising views will be counted as views when:
- Someone clicks the ad, and the video starts to play.
It is fair to assume that YouTube may be using similar requirements to measure views for regular videos.
If a video is shorter than 30 seconds long, the entire video must be watched to count as a view. If a YouTube video is longer than 30 seconds, at least 30 seconds have to be watched.
These 30 seconds do not have to be watched in sequence. Someone could watch the first 10 seconds of a video and then skip ahead to watch another 20 seconds, and it would still satisfy the 30-second requirement.
How does YouTube exclude fake and ineligible views?
YouTube has a wide array of technical measures to exclude views from bots and other ineligible means.
- JavaScript must be enabled, and none of YouTube analytics and beacon scripts can be blocked by browser ads or script blockers; otherwise, YouTube will not count views.
- Users must actively click the play button on a video. Embedded videos that automatically start playing do not count as views. This includes videos that are displayed as background elements with overlay text.
- The video player must be visible. Making videos invisible or hiding them off-screen does not count.
- YouTube also excludes consecutive views of the same video from the same IP address or user account within a specific rolling time frame. The exact numbers and duration of the time frame are unknown.
- That means if you watch and then rewatch your video, it might add 2 views.
- But if you rewatch it for the sixth time, it might not add any views.
- The only exception to this is if you add pauses in between. For example, if you watch your video once every hour for 8 hours in a row, you might be able to get 8 views.
- YouTube will also exclude views when their security system notices unusual behaviors. For example.
- If your video usually gets 1 to 2 views per day and then suddenly gets 100 views, all exactly 30 seconds long.
- Or, if you normally get 90% of your views from US and UK users, and out of nowhere, you get a ton of views from a different country.
- It is also highly suspicious if there is no visible paper trail to how viewers found your videos. A normal user might type something in the search bar or click on a recommended video next to another video. If views come out of nowhere and someone visits your URL directly, that is a huge indicator that a view is not from a real person.
- YouTube will also exclude and retrospectively remove all views from all videos of users and IP addresses who have been identified as bots or view spammers.
How do YouTube views compare with other platforms?
YouTube views are the most honest views among other social media platforms.
Many social networks such as Facebook Instagram were late to the video game. To demonstrate the success of their own video platform, they usually selected much lower thresholds for views to artificially inflate their numbers.
TikTok will count any watch duration as 1 view, even if it is just 1 second long.
Twitter considers someone who watches 2 seconds as a view.
While Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn require a whopping 3 seconds for 1 view.
In combination with the fact that most social platforms auto-play videos when someone scrolls through their newsfeed, these very short durations quickly create the impression of having much higher views than YouTube.
Don't be fooled by high view numbers on other platforms, and even on YouTube itself. Prioritize high watch time overviews as this is the real indicator of quality.
How many seconds count as one view on YouTube?
30 seconds count as one view for YouTube videos longer than 30 seconds.
11-30 seconds count as one view for YouTube videos shorter than 30 seconds.
Do your own views count on YouTube?
Yes, but only a certain number of times per user account and IP address.
Does rewatching a YouTube video count as views?
Yes, but only if sufficient time has passed between views, for example, an hour.
Do embedded YouTube videos count as views?
Yes, but only if the user presses the play button. Background videos and auto-play views do not count unless the users interact with the video player, for example, by unmuting the video.
Do YouTube video ads count as views?
Yes, if you or someone else uses one of your videos for a video ad campaign, these add up to your view count, if someone watches a complete video ad that is 11-30 seconds long or at least 30 seconds of an ad that is more than 30 seconds long.
Do YouTube Shorts count as views?
Yes, YouTube Shorts count as views. However, YouTube appears to count them similarly to TikTok videos, which counts watching any duration as a view.
Can you buy YouTube views?
Yes, but as soon as YouTube identifies one of these views as a bot, all views from these users will be removed from all videos.
Also, it does not help you.
Since these views are not from real people, they either have no watch history or if they do, they just contain a random collection of all the – usually shitty – YouTube videos who bought views.
So YouTube either does not know which of their internal audience are interested in your content, or it thinks that your videos are only watched by people interested in shitty videos.
Not to mention that views are one of YouTube's least important ranking factors, so it would not help you anyway.
Read my article on how the YouTube algorithm works and how to crack the YouTube algorithm to learn what actually works.
Does live streaming count as views?
Yes, live streaming counts as views. The only difference is that YouTube measures two types of views.
People who are currently watching the video are counted when they are currently watching and have been watching for the last 30 seconds. And people who watched any 30 seconds of the live stream or replay will be counted as regular views.
How often does YouTube update the view count?
The watch page has the most accurate view count.
The view numbers in the search results and YouTube Studio Analytics are only updated periodically to save YouTube resources.
Outside of the video watch page, the most accurate view count is the live view count in YouTube Studio for the last 60 minutes or 48 hours.
Why is the view count stuck at 301 views?
In earlier versions of YouTube, views would only go up to 301 views and then stop until a view audit took place. In other words, YouTube wouldn't check if someone was a real person or a bot for the first 301 views. Only afterward would it run the calculations to remove any bot views and then continue to count all future views normally.
This 301 views system was abandoned in August 2015. The new system evaluates every single view and identifies whether it is a real or bot view.
How to get more views on YouTube?
If you want to learn how to get more views, I recommend that you check out my article on how to get more views on YouTube.
You can also look at my YouTube blog where I share many tips and strategies that will help you get more subscribers, watch time, and make more money with your channel.
