Video-sharing website YouTube has launched an audit into the number of views each video receives, in an effort to keep the channel authentic and full of meaningful human interaction.
The Google-owned social network is concerned some users are using tools such as redirects or buying views to mislead people about the popularity of a video.
In the past YouTube has scanned views for spam after they occurred. However, now it will start validating video’s view count and removing fraudulent views.
Philipp Pfeiffenberger, software engineer at Google, explained in a blog post: ‘YouTube isn’t just a place for videos, it’s a place for meaningful human interaction. Whether it’s views, likes, or comments, these interactions both represent and inform how creators connect with their audience. That’s why we take the accuracy of these interactions very seriously. When some bad actors try to game the system by artificially inflating view counts, they’re not just misleading fans about the popularity of a video, they’re undermining one of YouTube’s most important and unique qualities.’
Irfon Watkins, CEO at Coull, commented: “The news that YouTube is to start auditing video views will be welcomed by users, viewers and advertisers alike. The practice of artificially inflating video views via underhand tools is rife throughout the industry and is both misleading and damaging. It benefits no one in the long run, least of all advertisers who rely on their campaigns reaching a genuine, engaged audience. However, targeting falsely inflated video views is only the tip of the iceberg because most video advertising across the industry is still irrelevant to the content that it is displayed next to. If advertisers truly want to see ROI, they should ensure that their campaigns are contextually relevant to the content, thereby guaranteeing that their audience is engaged and genuine too.”
