YouTube to count a view the moment a video starts playing, from August 2026

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Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority

TL;DR

YouTube is changing how views are counted on non-Shorts content.

A view will now be counted the moment a video begins to play.

This change will go into effect on August 24, 2026.

A year ago, YouTube made a change to how public views are counted for Shorts content. Soon, it will apply those same rules to all other video formats. This change will also apply to users across the globe.

In a blog post , Google announced it is changing how public views are counted on non-Shorts content. Currently, the platform only counts “engaged views” as view, which means the viewer watched the video for at least 30 seconds. Starting on August 24, 2026, it will start counting views the moment a video begins to play. The company says it is making this change to improve “consistency across the platform” and to eliminate metric confusion for creators.