When it comes to determining how popular your videos are, views are one of the most important metrics. YouTube provides several tools to help brands monitor view counts and more in Analytics. But have you ever wondered why your video view count can look different between the YouTube watch page and search page? How YouTube Counts Views As a business owner or content creator, you know that views are an important indicator of the popularity of your video. You may be wondering how YouTube counts video views, though, and what exactly defines a view. Generally speaking, when someone watches your YouTube video at least 30 seconds, it is considered a view. Views on ads (TrueView in-stream and video discovery) also count, but these are only valid if they have been watched for at least 30 seconds. Repeated views will count up to a certain point, but YouTube does not specify what that number is. This is done to prevent users from artificially inflating view counts, but it does not stop people who watch a video several times in one day from achieving high numbers of views. YouTube refreshes video views every 24 hours. The 30-Second Watch Limit The YouTube algorithm filters out bad views and blocks monetization on videos that receive too many invalid clicks. This is why it takes so much work for a video to reach the top of the most popular videos list. A view only counts if it comes from a real person, who has physically clicked the play button to start the video. It also has to be viewed for at least 30 consecutive seconds. YouTube also checks that the viewer is not using a bot to watch the video. Google also has a database of malware that opens browser windows positioned off-screen or hidden on websites. This can open a monetized YouTube video and earn the malware owner money. They then check the source of the view to see if it matches with their list of known malware. This stops the fraud and helps keep the view count honest. Bot Views Unlike real views, bot views come from fake accounts. They’re in violation of YouTube’s terms of service and are quickly spotted by the platform’s algorithms. View bots are essentially programs or applications that do nothing more than watch videos. While some people have claimed that they’ve been able to use a bot to artificially inflate their video’s views, the truth is that it’s very difficult to do so without getting caught. Plus, bots can also be susceptible to viruses and unauthorized hacking, which can cause a lot of damage. If you do decide to buy bot views, they’ll eventually disappear and may even bring down your engagement metrics. Additionally, if YouTube discovers that you’ve been buying bot views, they may remove your video, rank your videos lower in search results, or, after multiple violations, possibly shut down your entire account. This is why it’s best to stick with real views. Luckily, there are services that offer real views at affordable prices. Replays Unlike the number of unique views, the amount of times a video is replayed is not included in the overall view count. This is because the platform wants to ensure that it only counts views that are realistic and logical. If a viewer watches a video over and over again, that’s likely because they enjoy it and want to share it with their friends. However, after a certain point, typically around four or five replays within 24 hours, YouTube will stop counting a video’s view count. This is done to prevent spam views from increasing a video’s view total. YouTube doesn’t publicly disclose the exact formula for calculating a video’s view count. This could allow bad actors to create undetectable view bots. Nevertheless, the platform has very clear guidelines that creators must follow. These include ensuring that their videos have a minimum watch time of 30 seconds for standard video and 11-30 seconds for video ads.youtube views