Whether you’re just starting out or an experienced marketer looking to expand their strategy, YouTube views are one of the most important metrics for marketers to track. But what exactly counts as a view?
View counts can vary between the video watch page, search page, and analytics, so it’s understandable why brands would be confused.
What counts as a view?
YouTube views are one of the most important metrics when it comes to video marketing. They are a signal that your video is popular and influential.
However, it’s not as simple as just putting up a video and watching it go up in view count. YouTube has a system in place that carefully and smartly tracks video viewing to ensure that only legitimate views are counted.
For example, a video is only considered to have been watched if it was played by an individual human on one device and was viewed for at least 30 seconds. This is important because for video ad placements, the length of time a video is watched is one of the factors that YouTube uses to determine ad performance and rankings.
Additionally, a video is only considered to have a new view if it has been viewed by a unique individual human for the first time since its last viewer. This is important because it prevents people from artificially inflating a video’s view count by repeatedly refreshing the watch page.
How many views do I need?
YouTube video views are important for content creators to reach if they want to monetize their videos. Monetization involves getting paid for ads that run on your videos. The amount you earn depends on a number of factors, including the price of the ads, whether or not your audience watches the entire ad, and the popularity of your videos.
You can find out more about how many views you need to earn money on YouTube by checking your analytics. Then you can adjust your strategy to get more views. This may include creating more engaging videos, using the right keywords, and promoting your videos on social media.
YouTube does not pay you for general views, but they do pay you per ad view. This is why it is important to know the difference between general and ad views. You can also monetize your videos by selling merch, using affiliate links, or collaborating with brands. All of these methods can help you make more money per view on YouTube.
How do I know if a view is legitimate?
Fake views usually come from either bots or people being paid to watch videos. The latter scenario raises red flags for YouTube because they can’t earn money from these viewers. This devalues ads on the platform and messes with the algorithm that determines recommendations for their users.
YouTube also aims to maintain authenticity in their metrics by removing fake views. This can lead to a channel being banned, as purchasing fake views violates their terms of service.
One way to spot a fake view is by comparing likes, dislikes, shares, and comments. A video with many fake views will have few of these metrics. Another way to tell is by checking the origin of the views. If a lot of views are coming from South Asian countries, this is a red flag that the views are fake. Lastly, by checking the comment section you can see what type of content the viewer is interested in.
How do I know if a view is fake?
As a viewer, the easiest way to spot fake views is by checking the number of likes, dislikes and comments on a video. Fake views typically don’t generate any engagement and therefore do not contribute to the video’s overall reach. The same goes for subscribers – if a video has lots of views but no active subscribers then it is likely fake.
Another indication of fake views is a low watch hour ratio compared to the total view count. Authentic viewers tend to watch videos for longer periods of time, so a short watch time is often a red flag.
In addition, checking the source of the views can also reveal suspicious patterns. If a large amount of views come from countries that are unrelated to the video’s content or target audience, this is a good indicator that the views are fake.