The next movie trailer you watch on YouTube is going to get a ton more views than one from last week.
It’s not that the hypothetical new trailer is so much cooler than the hypothetical older one. But as of Monday, YouTube has changed how it counts public views of videos. The platform’s previous definition of 30 seconds is being replaced by views that “will be counted the moment a video begins to play — from the very first frame,” YouTube noted in an update last week.
On one hand, the change will align YouTube with the way platforms like TikTok, Instagram and X count their video views. It also eliminates a dual system where longer YouTube videos and YouTube Shorts were measured differently. The new system aligns with that of Shorts, where views include the number of times a video starts to play or replay, regardless of duration.
Under the new metric, for example the record-breaking 718 million views Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s first trailer racked up in its first 24 hours in March would likely be multiples higher were it released today. (And thus any “trailer sets a new record” claims going forward should have a disclaimer about the way YouTube measures views.)
Just as important, however — and maybe moreso to creators and advertisers — is what’s not changing. While the numbers underneath videos will generally be bigger, the metrics underlying whether and how much YouTube creators get paid aren’t tied to them.
Creators still need to have at least a thousand subscribers and a threshold of “qualified” views (for YouTube Shorts) or watch hours (for longer videos) to qualify for YouTube’s partner program. Earnings, in turn, are based on what YouTube calls engaged Shorts views or engaged watch hours. That metric counts viewers who stick around after the first few seconds of a video (not including loops).
Just as TV ratings don’t fully account for the fortunes of a series, raw view counts for YouTube videos have never provided a full window into the (monetary) success of a creator or channel. Changing the public view count just pushes those metrics further behind the curtain.
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