YouTube Counts Views from Frame One, Starting August 24

From August 24, YouTube counts a view the moment playback starts, no minimum watch time, across every format. Your public view number will jump. Your earnings won't: Partner Program payouts still run on engaged Shorts views and engaged watch hours, and those thresholds aren't moving. The old watch-time-based metric gets renamed 'Engaged views' and moves to Analytics Advanced Mode, so your retention data and average view duration are untouched. If you're pitching channel numbers to a brand or client, flag the August 24 discontinuity now. Any year-over-year comparison that straddles that date is not apples-to-apples, and any media buyer worth dealing with will ask about engaged views and average view duration anyway.