Views are a vital measure for YouTube video popularity and channel growth. The higher the number of views, the more likely a video will appear in search results and receive recommendations. Businesses that use the YouTube Partner Program can also earn advertising revenue from their video content based on the number of views.
To count as a view, a user must first intentionally initiate the play of a video on YouTube and then watch it for at least 30 seconds. It is possible to watch a video several times, but each watch will only count as a single view. This is similar to TikTok, where watching a video for any duration counts as a view.
YouTube is vested in making sure that only real people watch the videos they host, so they have strict rules about what counts as a view. They look for things like spamming (views that are fake or bought) and malware (software designed to cause damage).
If a video has too many spammy views, YouTube may freeze the video’s view count until they can verify that the videos were watched by legitimate viewers. This can happen to individual videos or entire channels, and it can cause the view counts on a video’s watch page, search page, and in YouTube Analytics to be different.
The best way to avoid having your videos flagged for spam is to optimize them. Start by using a catchy title that will make people want to click. Then, write a detailed description that provides value to the viewer. youtube views