YouTube will now count a view as soon as a video starts playing | TechCrunch
–:–:–:–
🚨 Flash Sale 🚨 Get $100 off your Disrupt 2026 ticket
Save $300 on your Disrupt 2026 ticket: REGISTER NOW.
Close
SearchSubmit
Site Search Toggle
Mega Menu Toggle
Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
More from TechCrunch
Staff
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Contact Us
Image Credits: Olly Curtis/Future / Getty Images
Apps
YouTube will now count a view as soon as a video starts playing
Aisha Malik
11:09 AM PDT · August 17, 2026
YouTube announced on Monday that it’s changing how views are counted on its platform, with a view now counting as soon as a video starts playing or someone enters a live broadcast. Although the Google-owned platform never disclosed how it previously counted views, it was generally understood that a view was counted after a user watched at least 30 seconds of a video.
The change comes a year after YouTube applied the same approach to counting views on Shorts videos. It’s worth noting that rivals TikTok and Instagram also count views as soon as a video starts playing.
"Historically, we’ve used multiple view counting systems across different formats," the company wrote in a YouTube Community post. "However, we’ve heard that creators want to eliminate this metric confusion and accurately understand their true exposure, which is why we’re making this update."
The shift could lead to significantly increased YouTube view counts, especially for videos that only briefly capture viewers’ attention. That means public view counts may no longer be a useful tool for creators and advertisers to determine how popular a video may be.
YouTube says it will keep the original view metric, now called "Engaged views," accessible to creators through its Analytics tools to allow them to see how many viewers chose to continue watching their videos.
The company notes that the change won’t impact creators’ earnings or how they become eligible for monetization through the YouTube Partner Program.
The update, which goes into effect on August 24, comes a week after YouTube made another creator-focused change, announcing that new creators will have to meet higher thresholds to begin earning money from ads and subscriptions starting next year.
Creators who want to start earning on the platform will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Currently, creators need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year or 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days. Additionally, creators need to maintain 10 million Shorts views over a 90-day period to earn money.
The decision has drawn backlash from users, as it will make it harder for creators to enter and remain in YouTube’s monetization program.
Topics
Apps, Creators, Google, Media & Entertainment, videos, YouTube
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Aisha Malik
Consumer News Reporter
Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.
You can contact or verify outreach from Aisha by emailing aisha@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at aisha_malik.01 on Signal.
View Bio
October 13 – 15
San Francisco
Scale faster. Grow your portfolio. Gain practical expertise. No matter your goal, Disrupt can empower you.
Save up to $300 toda y!
REGISTER NOW
Most Popular
Stripe will reportedly acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for $7B+
Anthony Ha
If Apple sends you a push notification alerting you to a spyware attack, take it seriously
Zack Whittaker
Instagram introduces a redesigned wordmark
Sarah Perez
Some Claude users are mad that Anthropic’s new watermarks will catch them using it at their jobs, classes
Lucas Ropek
After Microsoft threatened legal action, a security researcher publishes a new Windows zero-day bug
Zack Whittaker
Everything announced at Made by Google ’26: Pixel 11, Pixel Watch 5, Pixel Tag, and tons of Gemini features
Lauren Forristal
Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni reportedly knew Phia was ‘cookie stuffing’ for months
Dominic-Madori Davis
Loading the next article
Error loading the next article
© 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC.