YouTube Shorts is updating its view counting methodology starting March 31 to align with industry standards, though this change won't affect creator monetization.

Under the new system, a view will be counted as soon as a Short starts playing or replaying, eliminating the current minimum watch time requirement. While this may lead to higher view counts, it won't impact YouTube Partner Program (YPP) eligibility or earnings.

Key points about the change:

• Current "views" will be renamed to "engaged views" and moved to YouTube Analytics' Advanced Mode
• YPP eligibility requirements remain unchanged:
  • 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months, or
  • 1,000 subscribers and 10 million valid public Shorts views in 90 days

The update brings YouTube Shorts' metrics in line with competitors like Instagram Reels and TikTok, which already count views this way. This standardization will help creators better evaluate their performance across platforms and inform their content strategy.

For performance comparisons of content published before March 31, YouTube recommends using the engaged views metric to ensure accurate analysis.

This change comes as YouTube Shorts continues to grow in popularity, particularly as TikTok faces uncertainty in the United States market.

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