The most prevalent YouTube video is a 20-minute interview with Idris Elba answering difficult questions while eating spicy wings. When you are familiar with Hot Ones, “The show with hot questions and even hotter wings,” it may not be shocking to know that this video has nearly 4 million views.
That’s right, spicy wings have the capacity to earn millions of views in less than a week on YouTube. How Does YouTube Count Views? What exactly counts as a ‘view’ and what doesn’t? For those who are curious, or in case you are a marketer looking to develop strategy onto a platform with almost 2 billion monthly viewers, YouTube has the answer.
Breaking Down the ‘View’ Thing
YouTube has not always been the most obvious selection for marketers. Sure, there are guides and explanations, even statistics on how to crack the YouTube code. Yet, there is still uncertainty about what does and doesn’t count as a view in 2019. For a website that is no stranger to regular changes, what is the baseline?
How Does YouTube Count Views in 2019?
YouTube describes a view as ‘a viewer-initiated intended play of a video on YouTube that is been despammed.’ In other words, a video without viruses that’s chosen and watched by one computer.
When a video gets despammed, it’s scanned for potential malware viruses and security threats from hackers. Any threats are removed during the screening process.
So, wait. If there is no secret formula to what counts as a view, cannot anybody refresh their video to gain views? Not anymore. In the early days of YouTube, monetization was not a thing. It was an assumption that nearly every view fit into the original definition: a viewer-intended play of a virus-free video. It did not take the platform long to get smart to the fact creators can cheat the system. That is loosely referred to as an “artificial” view.
Fortunately, YouTube has gotten kinda great at spotting artificial views. A few of the signs they look for embody:
- Views, reloaded – That is the classic case of a single user refreshing the video to bring these numbers up.
- Viruses – If a video looks like malware–software designed to harm your laptop, server, or network, it gets deleted.
- Site autoplay – If the video is set up to autoplay on a site, that does not count as a view.
Software in YouTube’s security system has the ability to detect malware – a computer program that assists in sending spam messages from your laptop – and spambots. YouTube automatically removes them to make the screening process go more smoothly.
More than that, there is a magic number of views: 300.
If a video reaches 300 views, the fun starts. YouTube puts a hard stop on counting views. Its system starts to track incoming views as well as the first 300. It could delete fraudulent views as they are identified. Once the initial screening process is over, the view counter goes back to normal, however, YouTube will continue monitoring for fake views on each video.
Why 300? Numbers below that do not have the power to crowd the YouTube homepage and throw the site off its algorithm. The algorithm of YouTube is a strong thing to mess up.
The Rhythm of Algorithms
If publishers fail to follow YouTubes guidelines, videos shall be deleted. Viewership has its own set of guidelines and is taken very seriously. One reason for that is if a video reaches a certain number of views and falls within the guidelines, it is eligible to earn money.
YouTube’s account monetization permits a single video to earn thousands of as it creeps into the territory of getting millions of views. Accounts that give themselves fake views are, in essence, earning money unfairly. YouTube’s policies here aim to ensure every creator works hard on every video they produce.
That mentioned, algorithms change – sometimes at the drop of a hat. For the most updated info on proper video protocol, review YouTube’s guidelines frequently, particularly once they announce changes for creators.
Another reason viewership is taken so seriously is user able to find videos they are excited about. It would be soul-crushing to sift via lots of spam videos in order to get to that one your colleague suggested about how to edit videos.
All this talk of algorithms and homepages might seem a little overwhelming, when the main query is actually, “How do I use this stuff to get views?” Don’t worry, as long as you optimize videos for search, you will find methods to get people clicking on your content.
It could be a bit tricky to decipher the mechanics of YouTube. However, YouTube uses a system that carefully and cleverly monitors viewership so it could deliver the most authentic experience to its creators and users.
We hope that the article helps you to know “How Does YouTube Count Views”!