Total Qualified Video Views is a metric measuring the number of video views your brand is generating on a social media platform. A qualified view is when a user watches and/or interacts with your video depending on the platform’s criteria..
The data for this metric can be found in social media platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat, and Facebook.
How to calculate Total Qualified Video Views:
The formula for calculating Total Qualified Video Views is finding the sum of qualified views. Each platform will generate this output within their reporting module.
Not all video views are created equal across your platforms. It is easy to compare daily, weekly, and monthly totals, but each resource has varying criteria for what counts as a “view”. So if your team is not being diligent or aware of the rules, decisions will be made with skewed data.
Whether you are an advertiser or content marketer, efficiency matters. eCommerce teams bring their content where it will be seen, and a healthy view count can serve as quality bait. Make sure to understand your audience totals when allocating for budget and resources, because one platform might be mightier than the other.
How to improve Total Qualified Video Views:
Snapchat Criteria
The platform is unique from other social media in that users need to actively open videos in order to play them. As such, each time a video is rendered on screen, a view is counted, no matter whether that video is watched in full or for a fraction of a second. That goes for all videos, whether they’re private messages, Snapchat Stories or within Snapchat’s Discover section.
Facebook/Instagram Criteria
Facebook and Instagram views are counted after three seconds, in addition to videos auto-playing on mute until tapped for volume. The biggest distinction between the two is that Instagram’s view counter does not record views from embedded posts or those on desktop. It’s also important to note that although Instagram videos loop automatically, loops are not included in the view count.
Twitter Criteria
Twitter does not display a view counter like its competitors. Another important distinction is that videos need to be 100% viewable on any device for three seconds in order to be counted.
YouTube Criteria
YouTube has the most stringent requirements for counting views. Views are only charged when a user watches the video for 30 seconds or more. In other words, marketers are not charged when users engage the “click to skip” button or close the video within 30 seconds. YouTube ensures that real users want to watch a video before counting it as a view. That means that the company is constantly screening for automated bots, and anything that can be considered spam will not be included in the view counter.
