However, Facebook tracks several video view metrics including two-second continuous views three- and 10-second views plays watches at 25, 50, 75, 95, and 100% and average watch time.

In general, the standard number of views for both Facebook and Facebook Live is the number of times someone watched your video for three seconds or more. It’s generally accepted that a YouTube view isn’t recorded until the viewer has been watching for 30 seconds, but no one knows for sure. It may or may not take the length of time a viewer spends watching into account. Once a video passes that threshold, though, it has a chance to rank among the most popular videos, and its validity needs to be double-checked to protect YouTube’s reputation.Īside from the points above, no one really knows how YouTube’s algorithm works. The simple explanation for this is YouTube doesn’t care much about videos with less than 300 views. When the views are stuck on 301, YouTube employees are manually checking to see whether the views are valid. Occasionally, the view count freezes (typically at 301). The algorithm then gains traction and begins to validate views more quickly, but the more popular the video is, the longer the validation takes. Views the algorithm deems valid are those it can verify come from actual humans rather than bots or other computer programs. When a video is first uploaded, the count only reflects views the YouTube algorithm deems valid, which might not actually include all valid views. Why? YouTube wants to make sure the views are coming from real people.

The count of YouTube video views is meant to show how many times a video has been watched, but the company admits the number isn’t always accurate. Here’s a clear explanation of what YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram each considers to be a “view” on their respective sites: What counts as a view on YouTube? What counts as a view on YouTube isn’t the same as what counts as a view on Facebook or Instagram. The idea of a social media video view sounds simple enough: someone clicks play and you’ve got a view, right? Not necessarily.

Facebook photo view count