This week’s Metrics Monday post examines how video views are measured differently across various social and digital platforms. We will focus on the two largest channels for social video, Facebook and YouTube, but also look at how other platforms determine video views.
While we have written about the importance of videos for brands, properly measuring video views is just as vital. Views should not be the sole metric reported, but carry a higher relative weight in the eyes of both consumers and your clients.
We will also explore how we can compare views from various social platforms and which platform’s view measurement provides the best look inside a video’s performance.
It is crucial to understand how this definition differs both when reporting and analyzing the success of a video, as well as determining associated costs, such as advertising, and how effective your video is in driving conversions or sales.
How does YouTube determine a video view?
YouTube has long been the gold standard of social and digital video viewing. To measure a view of a video, Marketing Land explains that YouTube “counts a view after a user has watched a video for ‘around’ 30 seconds.” For videos shorter than 30 seconds, it will count completed views.
This definition of a view is 10 times longer than other social platforms, but 30 seconds provides sufficient time for viewer engagement while not counting shorter views. Of all social platforms, YouTube’s viewing threshold, in my opinion, is a more accurate standard than Facebook or other shorter thresholds.
YouTube analytics also provides more in-depth stats around average view duration and average percentage viewed. This type of analysis is important, as video views are only a basic metric.
Overall, YouTube’s 30-second view standard provides a baseline for video view measurement not just on YouTube, but also across digital marketing.
How does Facebook determine a video view?
Officially, Facebook counts any video watched for more than three seconds a view. Why would Facebook count a view at such a lower threshold than YouTube? While not confirmed, this could be seen as way for the platform to increase their total view counts when compared to previously established platforms such as YouTube. Despite being somewhat of a vanity metric, higher video views can provide an impression of greater engagement and viewing on Facebook.
Beyond their shorter view threshold, Facebook has also faced criticism for counting auto-plays. Ubergizmo writes, “the automatic playback of videos on one’s Facebook feed certainly plays a role in padding the numbers at the end of the day, but the doubling of video views in a matter of seven months with a similar metric is impressive.”
Facebook also offers extensive video analytics. Similar to YouTube, this allows a marketer to get past the vanity of “Facebook views” and understand the true consumption metrics for a video.
How do other platforms determine video views?
Beyond Facebook and YouTube, other platforms vary on how they count video views, but more are counting views similar to Facebook.
Twitter recently introduced auto-play features and currently uses the three-second view as their standard.
Similar to Facebook and Twitter, Instagram explains that “a video’s view count doesn’t include video loops, and a view is counted when a video is watched for 3 seconds or more.” For Instagram videos, this means that each view is a unique view, not accounting for multiple times watched.
Measuring and comparing video views across platforms
As a digital marketer, it can sometimes be hard to create an “apples-to-apples” comparison across platforms. Often, baseline metrics such as views, reach, and even engagement can be measured differently.
For videos, I recommend tracking metrics as comparable as possible. While Facebook offers 3-second and 10-second views within the Insights tab, downloading Insights will also provide you with both total and unique 30-second views.
First, choose to export Video Data within the Insights tab and export.
Once inside the Insights spreadsheet, you can then look through and find stats related to 30-second views.
Moving beyond just the displayed video view count and comparing like-for-like views is a crucial element of analysis. While a large view count can look great, 30-second view counts are a more reliable measure of whether people are actually viewing your content.
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