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On Wednesday, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s YouTube announced a significant change to the way it counts views for YouTube Shorts, aligning its metrics with those used by competitors TikTok and Instagram Reels. Starting March 31, 2025, YouTube Shorts will track views based on the number of times a video starts or replays, eliminating the previous requirement for a video to be watched for a certain number of seconds to be considered a view.
In a statement, YouTube conveyed its understanding of creators’ needs for more comprehensive performance insights, especially when sharing content across various platforms. The company clarified, "Beginning on March 31, 2025, Shorts views will count the number of times your Short starts to play or replay with no minimum watch time requirement."
This update reflects YouTube’s response to creators who have expressed a desire to gauge the visibility of their Shorts more accurately. As a result, YouTube will introduce a new metric called "engaged views," which will be available in YouTube Analytics’ Advanced Mode. This metric will allow creators to track how many viewers continue watching their Shorts beyond the initial play.
YouTube assured creators that this change will not affect their earnings or eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program, which will continue to be based on engaged views. The new Shorts views metric will be reflected across YouTube’s platform where Shorts views are displayed, potentially leading to higher view counts for creators.
The company expressed enthusiasm about the update, stating, "We hope that this deeper understanding of your Shorts performance will help you inform your content strategy, better represent your work to potential brand or agency partners, and give you a fuller picture of your overall reach if you’re posting on multiple platforms." YouTube’s move to align its view-counting methodology with that of other popular short-form video services aims to enhance creators’ understanding of their content’s performance and reach.
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