What Counts As a View on YouTube?

When you create a youtube video, one of the first things you might want to do is measure how many views it has. This is a great way to see the popularity of your video and it can give you an indication of how interested viewers are in your content.

However, you should be aware that there is a lot of confusion surrounding what counts as a view on youtube. The simple answer is that any time a user watches a video for 30 seconds or more, this counts as a view. This includes viewing on mobile, desktop and even on embedded videos or videos shared on social media.

Also, rewatches of your own video will count as views as long as the previous replay is done within 24 hours and no more than 4-5 replays are made in a row. YouTube doesn’t want you to watch your own video over and over again as this could be a sign that you are trying to artificially increase your view count.

In addition, YouTube will sometimes freeze your view count if it suspects you are using automated scanning techniques. This is because it wants to make sure that the views are being watched by real people and not bots. This is why the number can jump up and down a little as YouTube confirms views. youtube views