AN UPDATE TO HOW WE COUNT PUBLIC VIEWS ACROSS YOUTUBE

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

YouTube will change how it counts public views across all video formats starting on August 24. A view will count as soon as a video begins playing, including the first frame, which will likely increase reported view counts. YouTube will keep “Engaged views” in Analytics to show how many viewers continued watching. The change won't affect creator earnings or YouTube Partner Program eligibility, which will continue to use engaged or qualified views and watch hours.