Creator Insider: "…understand how often their shorts are seen…" — Shorts view count changes.
Creator Insider released a video explaining an upcoming change in how YouTube counts Shorts views, a crucial update for content creators seeking to understand their performance and reach. This change aims to provide a more comprehensive view of Shorts performance, especially for creators active on multiple platforms, by aligning YouTube's metrics with industry standards and offering a clearer picture of audience engagement.
The video begins by acknowledging the growth of short-form video on YouTube and creators' desire for better performance analysis. Creator Insider states, "A short form video continues to grow on YouTube. We know that creators want a deeper level of understanding of how their short-form videos are performing holistically, including when they're posting across multiple platforms." The video emphasizes the need for a more transparent view count that reflects how often a Short is actually seen by viewers.
Creator Insider builds on this premise by explaining the historical method of counting views after a certain watch time and the feedback received from creators. They explain, "Historically on YouTube, a view has been counted after a short is played for a certain number of seconds. However, we've heard from creators that they want to understand how often their shorts are seen." This sets the stage for the core message of the video: a significant shift in how Shorts views are calculated.
The core message is a change in how Shorts views are counted, moving away from a minimum watch time requirement. As Creator Insider explains, "So going forward, views will count the number of times your short starts to play or replay with no minimum watch time requirement." This change aims to provide creators with a broader understanding of their reach. The older metric will be renamed "engaged views", allowing creators to still track how many viewers continue watching past the initial play. Creator Insider clarifies, "We'll keep the existing shorts view metric, which will now be called engaged views in YouTube analytics in advanced mode so you can see how many viewers chose to continue watching your video."
The video then addresses practical implications and potential concerns. This new metric will be applied from March 31, 2025, onwards. Creator Insider assures creators that, "This change will not directly impact creator earnings or how creators become eligible for the YouTube Partner Program; both will be based on engaged views." They also offer guidance on how to compare performance across different upload periods.
For comparisons with Shorts published before March 31, 2025, they recommend using engaged views. For Shorts uploaded on or after that date, both regular views and engaged views can be used in YouTube Studio's advanced mode. They also confirm that there are no changes to the YouTube Partner Program eligibility requirements. While the view count methodology changes, the qualifying criteria remain based on "valid public shorts views," which are "public engaged views reviewed for additional eligibility checks already in place today." The video concludes by encouraging creators to leave feedback and questions.
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