YouTube will now count an ‘Engagement’ whenever a user clicks or watches 10 seconds or more of your TrueView ad.

The debate over what should count as a video view has gone on for years. Facebook counts a view at 3 seconds, which pushes up the platform’s overall video view stats, particularly due to autoplay. Snapchat counts a video view as soon as a Snap loads. Each platform facilitates different user behavior, so it’s hard to say exactly what should count as a video view, but it is important to note the variance in reporting.

Which is why this update is important. YouTube, which has long had the most generous video view metrics (views are counted when a viewer watches at least 30 seconds or to the end of the video, whichever is shorter) is now updating the engagement metrics on its TrueView for action ads.

Why the change?

YouTube says the update will better reflect the impact of video ads.

Basically, YouTube’s saying that the current measurement (30 seconds with a 30 day conversion window) is not as accurate a representation of the modern purchase journey as these updated measurements (10 seconds with a 3 day default conversion window), which more heavily weight exposure as part of the discovery and purchase cycle, as opposed to message delivery in full.