New Delhi, Aug. 22 -- YouTube has announced a major change in how it is going to count public views. According to the platform, starting from August 24, 2026, "a view will be counted the moment a video begins to play." The new system is set to take effect globally across long-form videos, Shorts and live streams.

So, what is different? Under the revised system, a view will be counted as soon as a video begins to play. In simple terms, it means that even the first frame of playback will register as a view.

Until now, YouTube used different view-counting systems across formats, creating inconsistent results for creators. The change will bring all formats under a common and unified standard. It is expected to result in an increase in publi...