YouTube videos are going to become more popular — without becoming more popular

YouTube is the world's biggest video platform. Now it has figured retired really to go bigger.

Even better: Google's video tract is going to propulsion this disconnected without spending a dime.

It's going to alteration the measurement it counts.

That's the upshot from a caller argumentation the institution announced Monday. The specifications won't make overmuch consciousness to you unless you're a master YouTube watcher, but the gist is YouTube is going to beryllium much permissive astir the measurement it counts views — which intends position counts are going to spell up.

Crucially, this won't impact the measurement YouTube counts views erstwhile it comes to Things That Involve Money — things for illustration figuring retired really it shares advertisement gross pinch creators, aliases totaling up really overmuch vulnerability an advertiser's video received. This alteration only affects "public views" — a purely cosmetic metric.

So why bother? YouTube says it's doing this connected behalf of video creators who kick that YouTube's aged strategy causes "confusion." But that doesn't afloat explicate it.

A somewhat much useful reply is that different video platforms, for illustration TikTok and Reels, already usage a view-count strategy for illustration the 1 YouTube is moving to, truthful this brings YouTube successful sync pinch that.

But the astir useful reply is that this will boost YouTube's numbers. Same platform, bigger metrics.

And that's astir important to video creators that YouTube is ever courting: It gives them the expertise to show a imaginable advertiser that a YouTube video that antecedently had 100,000 views now has, say, 150,000.

Again: Any remotely savvy advertiser will cognize the video didn't magically get much popular. But they'll besides cognize that YouTube is counting views the aforesaid measurement TikTok does, truthful they nary longer person to do other mathematics to understand a clip's scope aliases a creator's potential.

The alteration should thief creators erstwhile they're trying to do "brand deals," arsenic Rene Ritchie, a video shaper who's now caput of editorial astatine YouTube, tells me. "It will springiness them a amended consciousness of really galore group are reaching."

One much spot of translation: I deliberation this move is different acknowledgment from YouTube that it nary longer owns video.

That's been evident for years, of course. It was surely evident erstwhile YouTube rolled retired Shorts, its TikTok clone — you only transcript the title if the title is working.

This show is simply a spot much subtle: It tells creators "we cognize you're moving pinch different people, and that's fine. Really! We conscionable want to make judge you support moving pinch us. So possibly this will help."

I besides don't deliberation it's the astir meaningful point YouTube has told creators this month.

The truth that's going to make it more difficult for caller creators to make money connected YouTube, by raising the hurdles to get into its main revenue-sharing program, is simply a beautiful large deal. And 1 that straight affects the dollars for early would-be YouTubers.

Monday's news is for YouTubers who've already made it — and for YouTube's ain bragging rights.