Understanding Video Views: How Social Media Platforms Define a View

Monitoring the performance of your social media video metrics is critical to growing viewership and creating engaging content. It’s even more important to track video views when knowing videos often perform better than images. Videos add big value when it comes to sponsorship exposure, which should be top of mind for influencers and organizations when making sponsored content.

Video metrics differ from image posts, and each platform has different markers and terms for what metrics means. Not to mention, a video view on one platform can be defined differently than a video view on another.

Instagram Video Views – Reels

What is a video view: The very second a video starts to play.  Instagram never recounts a video view, meaning whether an account watched a video one time or 10 times, it still equals one video view. 

As of 2022, all new Instagram video posts are shared as Reels. This allows for more customizable video content creation tools as Meta continues to invest into Instagram’s short-form video space.

TikToK Video Views

What is a video view: The very second a video starts to play. If a viewer comes back to watch a video, it will count towards the total views. 

TikTok has revolutionized the world of video content for traditional sports, esports, brands and influencers. The platform has had so much success that short-form video content has become a major priority for other social media companies. It’s safe to say that Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts were born out of the need to compete with TikTok’s market.

YouTube Video Views

What is a video view: Views are counted each time a viewer intentionally initiates the playing of a video and watches for at least 30 seconds. If a viewer watches a video more than once, each screening will be counted as a new view.

YouTube was a pioneer of long-form video content, but they are now also investing in short-form video content. In March of 2021, YouTube launched YouTube Shorts in the United States and quickly surpassed 6.5 billion daily views globally! With their long-form video capabilities and rising popularity of Shorts, YouTube should be a key part of any organization’s video strategy.

While YouTube has no released what they consider a video view for Shorts, there is a meaningful time threshold that must be met. Clicking on a video also automatically counts as a video view on the YouTube Shorts platform.

Facebook Video Views

What is a video view: Watching a video for three seconds or more. 

While Meta is investing more into Instagram when it comes to video content integrations, Facebook continues to serve as one of the most popular channels to reach fans.

Twitter/X Video Views

What is a video view: Watching a video for two seconds or more with at least 50% on the screen or someone clicks to unmute/expand the video.

Despite all the controversy and changes at Twitter/X, the platform is still a great place to post quick-hitting video content such as game highlights, player interviews, and more!

Threads Video Views

What is a video view: Watching a video for three seconds or more.

Meta launched Threads in July of 2023 to compete with Twitter/X. While the platform is meant for sharing text updates and joining public conversations, the platform also supports videos up to five minutes in length.

LinkedIn Video Views

What is a video view: Watching a video for two seconds or more with at least 50% on the screen. 

Track and Value Video Views and Other KPIs With Blinkfire

Blinkfire’s patented and proprietary AI and computer vision technology enables rights holders, brands, agencies, athletes, and influencers to precisely track and value all your social media content. With Blinkfire’s advancing reporting tools, users can unlock new insights into the value of their content.