this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025
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[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

~~So, it seems like not~~. Edit: But Actually, yes.

I just tested this by finding some random video about cheese with a low number of views (827 as I write this).

I watched the WHOLE DAMN THING. TWICE. Kidding, I love cheese, it was lovely. Both times I watched it via Invidious instances. It was 827 before, still 827 right now.

Edit: OK, looking now, it's up to 830. Dammit, have one of you all been watching my cheese video? I never watched it when I loaded it from YT direct. So there's 1 extra view.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 38 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Just FYI, view counts don't always update in realtime. Depending on how many views a video already has and how many views it's had in the last hour, the view count may only refresh server-side in intervals.

[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Yep, up to 830 now. The cheese stands in a crowd! You're right.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 19 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Even watching on YouTube like that normally won't show the counter go up. It's not a real time counter.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

The only time I know YouTube view counts are accurate and not being fuzzed, is when I upload a video, instantly make it private, and never click on it. Zero views. Confirmed. 😊🤷🏼‍♀️

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

I'm pretty sure YouTube randomly "fuzzes" the public view count of videos specifically to prevent this kind of research.

[–] kambusha@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago

You need to finish the study by proving it does change the views when you watch via youtube directly

To Youtube such views probably look more like a viewbot than a legitimate user, so they don't count it.