YouTube Question Private playlist affecting public views?

[ddin47201]

First post! We have a private playlist with some of our public videos included that we play on loop on a Smart TV in our product showroom. My question is two fold:
1. Does YT count all the plays of the video since it is set to replay all day from 7:30 am to 5 pm? Or is it counted as essentially 1 view since it's the same device watching it?
2. Do the views count since the playlist is private? And does this help or hurt our YT channel?

Is there a better way we should be doing this?

Any feedback is much appreciated!

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Hi there and welcome! Great questions, I am going to enjoy this one.

1. When you have this private playlist playing on a single device throughout the day these views are being counted towards the views for each video, but there are caveats to this. Not all views carry the same weight. I am assuming that the videos themselves are public and that it is the Playlist that is set to Private. In that circumstance these will count as public views (more on that in a moment). So they do count towards the analytics for these videos. But...
A. Playlist/Binge views will only technically count for the first hour. If you are not clicking each and/or hitting the like button, leaving a comment or otherwise engaging with the platform after one hour
the views will count as views but they will not be monetized and you do not get credit for the watch time on the videos that play after that first hour.
B. There are diminishing returns when it comes to views from the same source. I don't know the exact math for this, but simply put when an account watches a video a second time that view is valued at about half the value of the first view. The third is worth about half the value of the second view, and so on. While these still count as views their representation in the YouTube Search and Discovery systems is worth less and less with every subsequent view.
C. If you are watching from the account that hosts the YouTube channel which published that video YouTube sees this as well, and these views are going to be categorized as such. So they will not be as valuable as a video which is watched from another viewers account.
If these videos are set to Private or Unlisted then they do still count... but not towards any meaningful metric. They are not counted as Public Views, which are those gained through public traffic sources. So these views do not count towards monetization, they don't count towards the watch time or retention of that video.

2. If the Playlist itself is Private but the videos are public this makes near-zero difference to your channel because of everything listed above. If both the Playlist and the Videos are set to Private then it makes zero difference to your channel.

So to put a nice bow on this conversation... there is nothing wrong with this but don't expect it to do anything to help your channel either.

 

[LautaroNores]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum. You've asked some great questions about how YouTube views work, especially in the context of a private playlist playing on loop.

1. Counting Views:
   • Yes, YouTube does count the views from a single device, even if the videos are set to replay all day. However, these views aren't all equal. The first hour of continuous viewing will count normally, but after that, the engagement metrics (likes, comments, etc.) and the diminishing returns factor come into play. This means that after the initial hour, the views might not contribute significantly to watch time or monetization metrics.
2. Impact of Private Playlists:
   • If the videos are public but the playlist is private, the views still count as public views. However, they won't be as impactful if they're coming from the same device repeatedly without interaction. If both the playlist and the videos are private, the views don't contribute to any meaningful public metrics like watch time or monetization.

Better Approach:

• If you want to maximize the benefit for your YouTube channel, consider having different devices or accounts view the videos. Also, encourage engagement with likes, comments, and shares from different sources. This will help boost the video's performance in YouTube's algorithms.

Summary:

• Looping videos on a single device will count as views but won't significantly boost your channel due to the factors mentioned. To improve your YouTube channel's performance, diversify the sources of views and increase engagement from different viewers.

I hope this helps! Let us know if you have any more questions.

 

[willdav01]

Well, YouTube typically counts views from the same device, but repeated views from a single device in a short time might be filtered out to prevent artificial inflation. Views from a private playlist do count towards your video's view count but they won't be visible to the public.

I think you should consider creating an unlisted playlist instead of a private one bcz this still counts views and allows you to share the playlist with others without making it public and it will help your channel's performance without affecting the public view count negatively.