How Does YouTube Count a View Now?

Neal Mohan says YouTube now counts a public view the same way on Shorts and on other videos. Alex Kantrowitz said his own uploads looked about 30 or 40 percent higher than before. The change makes those public counts uniform.

Until very recently, Shorts were counted differently from on-demand videos. A public count could differ because a video ran past a certain length or played horizontally. Neal Mohan says you could argue that split was not right. YouTube had already changed the Shorts count a year ago or a couple of years ago, he does not remember which, and the same method now applies across YouTube.

In YouTube Studio, creators still see engaged views, which keeps the older sense of a view. Recommendations still factor views in through that engaged-view number. He treats the public-count change as a clarification, and both counts stay available to creators.