YouTube Counting Views from First Frame

YouTube has announced a change to how it counts views, bringing VODs and Live content in line with how it counts views on Shorts. Last year, YouTube made it so that Shorts views count right away on playback, whereas both YouTube VODs and Live videos required at least 30 seconds of playback before they count as a view. Now, all three will count a +1 to the view count from the very first frame.

Context:

YouTube creators have expressed some frustration that their Shorts receive so many additional views, given the immediate playback view count. That means that, when compared to their long-form videos, the perceived interest is significantly less. YouTube is attempting to solve that by treating all views the same way moving forward.

YouTube is keeping the 'engaged views' metric so that creators can see how many people watch for longer durations than the opening frame. This change will not impact earnings or eligibility to join the YouTube Partner Program.

Historical videos will not be retroactively updated to match the new counting system, but views will add to them moving forward under the new counting system.

My Thoughts:

This is probably a positive change that will reestablish long-form content as a key content type on the platform. YouTube Shorts, with 200B views a day, benefit a ton from being counted from the first frame, which makes VOD content look like no one's watching in comparison. This should help people realize that long-form is still an incredible format worth focusing on - creators love vanity metrics.

There is a risk of clickbait content getting more views (people close the tab quickly on those; so historically, no +1 to the view count)... Thus, we lose a 'signal' of quality.

Creators MAY (in the short term) be able to increase how much they charge sponsors with this change if views are the goal. But sponsors will likely clue in quickly and ask to see the 'engaged viewers' stat during negotiations.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!