How does YouTube count views?

I know what you are thinking, it’s simple that each click is one view; however it is not that simple. Unlike Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, YouTube does not disclose publicly how they count each view. When viewing a video on Facebook, if you watch at least 3 seconds of the video, then this is counted as a view, which then each view is clearly listed under the video, which is the same for Instagram, which is of course owned now by Facebook. In the case of Twitter, one view is counted when you click on a video link regardless of how much of the video you watch.

All YouTubers want to increase the traffic to their videos. So let’s begin and talk about how YouTube does count views. For advertisers on the platform, if the user skips the video within under 30 seconds then this is not classed as a view. YouTube does not have an auto view system for advertisers so a user must watch at least 30 seconds and not skip the advert to be counted within the view count. Whilst we are talking about timing, video length can play a part in determining a view count and users who click on a video then quickly leave the page within mere seconds will not be counted as a view.

Furthermore, YouTube does allow view counts from embedded YouTube videos used within other web pages online however a view is only counted if the user actually decides to select play on the video with a mouse click. Any embedded YouTube video that auto plays is not counted as a view because previously users have masked embedded videos on web pages on auto play so that every time a user accessed the web page, a view count was added to the YouTube video which then would be used to falsify views to gain a higher view count.

Finally, YouTube has as a system in place to ensure that users are real people and not bots which would be used potentially by creators to enhance their view count. The way how YouTube monitors this is by implementing a temporary pause on the view count every 300 views. Once the view count has been temporarily paused, YouTube will verify the view count to ensure all 300 views are from actual real users of the platform. It should also be worth noting that YouTube does in fact track users IP Addresses to ensure that users can not just refresh the page to increase the view count. It does allow multiple views from the same IP Address although only if the views are at different times, usually different days.

In conclusion, YouTube does implement a system to ensure that the view count within videos cannot be falsified and that all views are counted from real users. However, there will always be ways accessible to enhance your view count and as technology evolves, new and interesting ways will be developed, and YouTube will be forever having to review and update their system to make sure that views on the platform are from real YouTube users.