There’s a common misconception that YouTubers are paid for the number of downloads a video gets. The reality is a bit more complicated.
YouTube’s monetization system is structured around views and advertisements, not downloads.
Let’s dive deeper into this topic and dispel any lingering confusion.
How Are YouTubers Paid?
At its core, YouTube’s payment model primarily relies on advertisements and views, not downloads. It’s also important to note that not all views are created equal.
Ad Revenue: This is the primary source of income for most YouTubers. Advertisements that appear before, during, or after a video are what generate income. The YouTuber is paid a share of the advertising revenue from these ads. This payment is usually calculated based on Cost Per Mille (CPM), meaning the cost per thousand views. The average CPM varies between countries and genres, but as of 2021, it ranged from $0.25 to $4.00 in the United States.The niche in which a YouTube channel operates can significantly influence the CPM rates. The rates vary based on audience demographic, engagement, and demand from advertisers.Here’s a rough estimation of average CPM rates across various popular YouTube niches:
YouTube Niche
Average CPM Rates
Tech
$4.00 – $6.00
Finance
$8.00 – $12.00
Gaming
$2.00 – $4.00
Beauty and Fashion
$3.00 – $6.00
DIY and Crafts
$2.00 – $4.00
Health and Wellness
$5.00 – $7.00
Food and Cooking
$3.00 – $5.00
Travel and Lifestyle
$2.00 – $4.00
Education
$4.00 – $7.00
Entertainment and Comedy
$2.00 – $4.00
It’s important to note that these are rough estimates and actual rates can vary significantly. Factors such as viewer location, viewer age, and seasonality also play a role in determining CPM rates. Moreover, these rates are subject to change as market dynamics evolve.
YouTube Premium: This is a subscription service offered by YouTube. It allows users to watch ad-free videos, access YouTube Originals, and play videos in the background. When a YouTube Premium member watches a video, the creator is paid out of the subscription fee. This income depends on the total watch time by YouTube Premium members.YouTube Premium revenue is split between all the creators a subscriber watches in a given month, based on the watch time. So, it’s hard to give concrete figures for individual channels, but we can certainly share a rough understanding of how the funds are divided.Please note, the following percentages are approximate, and actual percentages may vary:
YouTube Premium Revenue Breakdown
Approximate Percentage
YouTube’s Share
45%
Creators’ Share
55%
YouTube usually takes approximately 45% of the total revenue as their share, leaving around 55% to be distributed among creators. The portion a particular YouTuber receives is calculated based on the amount of watch time they generated among YouTube Premium viewers.
For instance, if a user watches one YouTuber A for 20 hours and another YouTuber B for 10 hours in a month, YouTuber A will receive twice the share of YouTube Premium revenue compared to YouTuber B from this particular user’s subscription fee.
Channel Memberships and Super Chat: These are features that allow fans to directly support their favourite YouTubers. Channel Memberships allow fans to pay a monthly fee for special perks, while Super Chat lets viewers pay to have their messages highlighted during a live chat.YouTube also enables creators to earn through features like Memberships and Super Chat. These features allow fans to directly support their favourite creators. Here’s a breakdown of how much creators earn from these revenue streams:
Revenue Stream
Fees and Splits
YouTube Memberships
70% to Creator, 30% to YouTube
Super Chat
70% to Creator, 30% to YouTube
For YouTube Memberships, creators receive 70% of the membership fee after local sales tax is deducted. The rest goes to YouTube. As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, there were three default price points: $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99 per month, but these prices can be adjusted based on the creator’s preference and local currency.
Super Chat, on the other hand, allows viewers to pay to have their messages highlighted during a live chat. The fee breakdown is the same as Memberships – creators receive 70% and YouTube takes 30%.
Remember, these splits apply after any local sales tax and, in the case of iOS purchases, after the app store’s transaction fee is deducted. This can significantly affect the net revenue a creator receives. As a result, the actual earnings for a creator might vary significantly based on several factors, including their location and the platforms their viewers are using to purchase memberships or send Super Chats.
Merchandise Shelf: This feature allows YouTubers to showcase their official merchandise right on YouTube.
Brand Partnerships: Many YouTubers also earn money through sponsorships and partnerships with brands.
The following table illustrates the most common revenue streams and their average rates:
Revenue Stream
Average Rates
Ad Revenue (CPM)
$0.25 – $4.00
YouTube Premium
Varies
Channel Memberships
$4.99, $9.99, $24.99 per month
Super Chat
Varies
Merchandise Shelf
Varies
Brand Partnerships
Varies
Please note these rates are just averages and actual rates may vary greatly depending on numerous factors such as the YouTuber’s audience size, engagement, location, and video content.
So, What Happens If You Download a Video?
When a user downloads a video, it doesn’t directly contribute to a YouTuber’s income. The YouTuber gets paid when a viewer watches the video on YouTube’s platform, not when it’s downloaded. Downloading a video often means viewing it offline, which bypasses YouTube’s ad-serving platform and therefore generates no ad revenue for the YouTuber.
It’s worth noting that downloading YouTube videos for offline viewing without explicit permission from the creator is against YouTube’s terms of service. YouTube does provide an option for offline viewing through YouTube Premium, but this doesn’t involve downloading the video in the conventional sense. These views do count towards the total views and generate revenue for the creator.
Conclusion
In summary, YouTubers are not directly paid for video downloads. Instead, they earn money through ad revenue, channel memberships, Super Chat, the Merchandise Shelf, brand partnerships, and YouTube Premium views.
Downloading a video without explicit permission could potentially harm a YouTuber’s income, as it bypasses the revenue they could earn from ads.
Supporting your favourite YouTubers by watching their videos on the platform is the best way to ensure they get paid for their hard work.
As with most social media platforms, the best time to post on YouTube depends on your audience and the type of content you’re posting.
However, research suggests that the most active times on YouTube are weekday afternoons and evenings, between 2 PM and 4 PM Eastern Time, with the peak being around 5 PM to 6 PM Eastern Time.
Why is it important to know when YouTube is most active? Knowing the best time to post on YouTube can help you reach a larger audience and get more views and engagement on your content. If you post at a time when your audience is most active, your video is more likely to show up in their feeds and search results.
This can help you get more views, likes, comments, and shares, which can in turn help you grow your channel and increase your reach.
How to boost views on YouTube
In addition to posting at the right time, there are several other strategies you can use to boost views on your YouTube videos:
Optimize your title and description
Use keywords and phrases that your target audience is likely to search for in your video title and description. This will help your video show up in search results for those keywords, which can help you get more views.
Use eye-catching thumbnails
Your video thumbnail is the first thing people see when browsing through YouTube, so it’s important to make it eye-catching and engaging. Use high-quality images, bold text, and bright colours to capture people’s attention and entice them to click on your video.
Promote your video on social media
Share your video on your social media channels and encourage your followers to watch and share it. This can help you reach a wider audience and drive more views and engagement on your video.
How to localize content to get more engagement: Localization is the process of adapting your content to suit the preferences and needs of a specific geographical region or language. Here are a few strategies you can use to localize your content and get more engagement:
Use subtitles or captions
Adding subtitles or captions to your videos can help you reach a wider audience and make your content more accessible to people who speak different languages.
Use local keywords and phrases
Research the keywords and phrases that are popular in the region or language you’re targeting, and use them in your video titles, descriptions, and tags.
Incorporate local trends and culture
Make your content more relatable and engaging by incorporating local trends, culture, and references into your videos. This can help you connect with your audience on a deeper level and build a stronger relationship with them.
YouTube Statistics
Statistics
Value
Number of YouTube users
Over 2 billion monthly active users
Number of YouTube daily views
Over 1 billion hours of videos watched daily
Percentage of YouTube users
81% of 15-25 year-olds in the US
Average mobile YouTube session
40 minutes
Number of YouTube channels
Over 50 million channels
YouTube Engagement Statistics
Statistics
Value
Average time spent on YouTube per user
Around 40 minutes per session
Percentage of YouTube traffic from mobile devices
Over 70%
Average percentage of likes on YouTube videos
8-12% of total views
Average percentage of comments on YouTube videos
0.5-2% of total views
Percentage of YouTube users who subscribe to a channel after watching a video
70%
Video Localization Statistics
Statistics
Value
Percentage of internet users who prefer to consume content in their native language
72%
Percentage increase in video engagement after adding subtitles or captions
Up to 15%
Percentage of YouTube views that come from non-English-speaking countries
Over 60%
Number of languages YouTube supports for automatic captions
Over 10
Percentage increase in video reach when optimizing for local keywords and phrases
Varies based on region and language
What is the best time to post on YouTube?
The best time to post on YouTube depends on your audience and the type of content you’re posting. However, research suggests that the most active times on YouTube are weekday afternoons and evenings, between 2 PM and 4 PM Eastern Time, with the peak being around 5 PM to 6 PM Eastern Time.
These are the times when most people are likely to be online and actively browsing YouTube.
Why is it important to post at the right time?
Posting at the right time can help you reach a larger audience and get more views and engagement on your content. If you post when your audience is most active, your video is more likely to show up in their feeds and search results.
This can help you get more views, likes, comments, and shares, which can in turn help you grow your channel and increase your reach.
Can posting at the wrong time hurt your video’s performance?
Posting at the wrong time can make it harder for your video to get noticed and can lead to lower engagement and views. If you post when your audience is less active, your video is less likely to show up in their feeds and search results, which can limit its visibility and reach.
What are some other strategies for boosting views and engagement on YouTube?
In addition to posting at the right time, there are several other strategies you can use to boost views and engagement on your videos.
These include:
Using targeted keywords and phrases in your video titles, descriptions, and tags to make it easier for people to find your video in search results.
Creating engaging thumbnails that capture people’s attention and entice them to click on your video.
Promoting your video on social media and other channels to reach a wider audience and encourage people to watch and share it.
Collaborating with other creators in your niche to expand your reach and build your audience.
Engaging with your audience by responding to comments and encouraging feedback.
How can you localize your content to get more engagement?
Localizing your content means adapting it to suit the preferences and needs of a specific geographical region or language.
Some strategies for localizing your content and getting more engagement include using subtitles or captions to make your videos more accessible to people who speak different languages, incorporating local trends and culture into your videos to make them more relatable and engaging, and using local keywords and phrases to optimize your content for search results in specific regions or languages.
In summary, posting at the right time, optimizing your content, and localizing your content can all help you get more views and engagement on your YouTube videos. By understanding your audience, researching keywords and trends, and using these strategies effectively, you can take your YouTube channel to the next level and reach a wider audience.
Welcome to the wacky, wonderful world of YouTube, where the quest for clicks, likes, and subscribes is a never-ending battle. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into a question that has plagued creators and audiences alike:
Do boobs really get you more views on YouTube?
We’ll explore the psychology, stats, and examples in this fun and friendly article, so buckle up and let’s get going!
The Psychology of Attraction
Let’s start with the basic human instincts. From an evolutionary perspective, our brains are hardwired to be attracted to certain physical traits that signal fertility and good health. For instance, the sight of a voluptuous bosom could evoke feelings of attraction as it suggests a potential mate who can nurture offspring. This is true for both men and women, albeit to varying degrees.
In the context of YouTube, this primal attraction can translate to more clicks on thumbnails featuring boobs, as it plays on our brain’s reward centre that’s geared toward seeking pleasure.
However, it’s important to note that other factors like humour, facial expressions, and intriguing visuals can also trigger the same reward centre, leading to more clicks and views.
The Stats: Boob-Thumbnails vs. Non-Boob-Thumbnails
Quantifying the “boob effect” on YouTube views is tricky, but some anecdotal evidence and informal studies have shown a correlation. For example, YouTuber Philip DeFranco conducted an experiment in 2012 where he alternated between boob and non-boob thumbnails for his daily vlogs. The result? Videos with boob thumbnails received significantly more views.
However, this isn’t a universal truth. A thumbnail featuring boobs may initially attract attention, but if the content is low-quality or irrelevant, viewers will leave quickly, causing watch time to suffer. In the long run, YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes watch time and engagement, so the short-term gains of a clickbait thumbnail might not translate to sustained growth for a channel.
YouTube has over 2 billion monthly active users, making it the second-largest search engine after Google. (Source: YouTube)
Over 500 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube every minute. (Source: Brandwatch)
The average YouTube session duration on mobile is 40 minutes. (Source: Google)
While these statistics do not directly relate to the use of boob thumbnails on YouTube, they do demonstrate the enormous reach and influence of the platform.
Examples of Boob-Thumbnails in Action
There are numerous examples of creators using boobs in their thumbnails, whether they be gamers, vloggers, or pranksters. Some examples include:
Prank Invasion: This channel gained notoriety for its kissing pranks, often featuring thumbnails of scantily-clad women.
Zoie Burgher: A former Twitch streamer turned YouTuber, Zoie capitalized on her revealing outfits and thumbnails to amass a significant following.
VitalyzdTv: Known for his wild pranks and social experiments, Vitaly often includes provocative images of women in his thumbnails.
While these examples highlight the potential for boobs to draw attention, it’s essential to note that these creators also rely on engaging content to maintain their audience.
In other words, the boobs may reel viewers in, but it’s the content that keeps them coming back for more.
Average YouTube Click-Through Rates
Ad Format
Click-Through Rate
TrueView Ads
0.3%
TrueView Ads with CTA
0.76%
Bumper Ads
0.48%
Display Ads
0.47%
Overlay Ads
0.21%
(Source: Google)
Factors Affecting YouTube Click-Through Rates
Factor
Impact on Click-Through Rate
Video Title
The title is the most important factor in determining whether someone will click on a video, and can affect click-through rates by up to 40%.
Thumbnail
The thumbnail is the second most important factor and can affect click-through rates by up to 30%.
Video Length
Shorter videos tend to have higher click-through rates.
Video Quality
High-quality videos with engaging content tend to have higher click-through rates.
Call to Action (CTA)
Including a CTA in the video can increase click-through rates by up to 15%.
(Source: YouTube Creator Academy)
YouTube Click-Through Rates by Industry
Industry
Average Click-Through Rate
Apparel & Accessories
2.26%
Beauty & Personal Care
1.14%
Consumer Electronics
0.85%
Food & Beverage
1.75%
Health & Fitness
1.23%
Home & Garden
1.26%
Travel & Tourism
1.04%
(Source: Google)
These statistics demonstrate the importance of factors such as video title, thumbnail, and quality content in determining click-through rates on YouTube. Additionally, the data highlights the variation in click-through rates across different industries on the platform.
So, do boobs get you more views on YouTube?
The answer is both yes and no. While using boobs in thumbnails can certainly grab attention, it’s only a piece of the puzzle. Engaging, high-quality content is crucial for maintaining an audience and appeasing the YouTube algorithm.
So, if you’re a content creator looking to boost your views, remember that there’s more to it than just flaunting some cleavage!
As a YouTuber, you may often find yourself asking, “Does changing YouTube titles affect views?”
The simple answer is yes, it can. Titles and descriptions are crucial components of your videos’ metadata and play a significant role in the overall success of your channel.
In this article, we’ll dive into the importance of titles and descriptions and explore how changing them can impact your views.
The Importance of Titles and Descriptions on YouTube
Titles and descriptions are not just labels for your videos; they help viewers understand what your content is about and determine if it’s relevant to their interests. They also play a significant role in YouTube’s search algorithm, affecting your video’s discoverability and ranking.
Why Titles and Descriptions Matter
Factor
Importance
Relevance
Viewers use titles and descriptions to decide if a video is worth watching.
Compelling titles and descriptions can increase your click-through rate and overall views.
Changing YouTube Titles: The Impact on Views
When you change a video’s title, you can potentially improve its discoverability and ranking in search results. A well-optimized title with relevant keywords can lead to increased views, as viewers are more likely to find and click on your video.
However, changing titles frequently or without proper research can have negative consequences. A poorly optimized title can result in decreased views and engagement.
Changing YouTube Descriptions: The Impact on Views
Similar to titles, modifying video descriptions can also affect your views. A well-crafted description with relevant keywords can improve your video’s search ranking, leading to increased views.
However, it’s essential to maintain a balance between keyword usage and readability. An overly optimized description that doesn’t provide value to the viewer can lead to a lower click-through rate and decreased views.
The Impact of Changing Titles and Descriptions
Change
Positive Impact
Negative Impact
Title
Improved discoverability, increased views
Decreased views, lower engagement
Description
Improved search ranking, increased views
Lower click-through rate, decreased views
Changing YouTube titles and descriptions can indeed affect your views. If done correctly, optimized titles and descriptions can lead to increased views, better engagement, and improved search rankings. However, it’s crucial to conduct thorough keyword research and maintain a balance between optimization and providing value to your viewers.
Remember that consistency is key, and making changes based on informed decisions and proper research will help you create a successful YouTube channel with a loyal following.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with your titles and descriptions, but always keep your audience and their needs in mind. Happy YouTubing!
Short answer: yes, YouTube counts legitimate views from a VPN. A real person watching a video normally counts whether they’re on a VPN or not — YouTube doesn’t block VPNs and doesn’t throw a view away just because it’s encrypted. The nuance is in the word legitimate: views only fail to count when they look artificial, fail location and account checks, or are part of an attempt to inflate the numbers. Here’s exactly how it works in 2026, what a VPN really changes, and why it’s useless for gaming your view count.
The question underneath the question: most people asking this are really asking one of two things — “will my honest viewers on VPNs still count?” (yes), or “can I use a VPN to pump up my views?” (no, and here’s why that backfires).
This guide answers both properly, using how YouTube’s view-validation system actually behaves today — not the folklore from a few years ago.
Why listen to me? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades of self-employment behind me. I’ve coached 500+ creators and helped earn six Silver Play Buttons. I’ve watched view counts wobble, freeze and correct on hundreds of channels, so this is grounded in what actually happens, not guesswork.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Does YouTube count views from a VPN?
Yes — a genuine, viewer-initiated watch by a real person counts whether or not they’re using a VPN. YouTube doesn’t block VPNs or discard encrypted views. A view only fails to count if it looks artificial (bots, scripts, endless looping) or fails YouTube’s location and account checks. A VPN does change the location your view is attributed to, which can affect analytics and revenue geography — but it can’t be used to reliably inflate your view count, because validation strips artificial views back out.
What Counts as a View on YouTube in 2026?
Before we get to VPNs, you need the foundation, because it’s the whole answer. YouTube’s own definition of a view is simple: a viewer-initiated, intentional play of a video by a real human, that has passed spam checks. Every word does work there. “Viewer-initiated” and “intentional” mean the person actively chose to watch. “Real human” and “passed spam checks” mean YouTube has decided the view isn’t fake.
That produces a clear line between what counts and what doesn’t:
Counts as a view ✅
Doesn’t count ❌
A person clicks a thumbnail, link or play button and watches
Bot traffic and automated scripts
A viewer on a VPN watching normally
Autoplay or hidden embedded videos (no active choice)
A few genuine re-watches of the same video
Rapid, repeated self-refreshing to juice the count
A standard embed where someone clicks play
Purchased or botted views (removed on validation)
🔍 Why your public count sometimes lags: YouTube validates views before showing them publicly, so YouTube Studio often updates faster than the public counter. If a count seems to freeze, stall or drop slightly, that’s the old “301 freeze” behaviour — the validation system auditing a wave of views and removing anything that looks artificial. It’s normal, not a penalty.
Does YouTube Count Views From a VPN?
Now the specific question. If someone watches your video through a VPN, does it count? In almost every normal case, yes.
If the viewer is logged in to a valid YouTube account, YouTube barely cares about the VPN. Only a small slice of the data YouTube wants is tied to location, and a logged-in account confirms the rest — so a real person on a VPN, watching because they chose to, is a real view. YouTube does not block VPNs, and it does not discard views simply for being encrypted or routed through another country.
Anonymous, logged-out views on a VPN are treated a little more cautiously, because YouTube has less certainty about who’s behind them. And VPN server addresses can be flagged over time — reputable providers are treated normally, while addresses tied to malicious activity or obvious abuse get scrutinised or blocked. But none of that changes the headline: an honest viewer on a decent VPN counts.
What a VPN Actually Changes About Your Views
A VPN doesn’t stop a view from counting — but it does change a few things worth understanding, especially if you’re a creator looking at your own analytics.
What a VPN changes
Why it matters
Apparent location
The view is attributed to the VPN’s exit server, not the viewer’s real country — so it can land in the “wrong” country in your analytics
Revenue geography
Ad rates vary by country, so a lot of VPN traffic can skew how your revenue is calculated and reported
Regional availability
A VPN can unlock region-locked videos by placing the viewer in an allowed country
Privacy of viewing history
Encrypts traffic so the viewer’s ISP and network can’t see what’s being watched
For creators, the location point is the one to remember: if you test your own videos through a VPN a lot, don’t be surprised when your analytics show views from a country you’ve never marketed to.
When VPN Views Don’t Count (and When They Get You in Trouble)
A view fails to count when it stops looking like a genuine human choice. That’s true with or without a VPN — but VPNs come up most often in the context people hope will work: inflating numbers. So let’s be blunt about it.
YouTube runs a constant view-validation audit. Its systems are very good at spotting artificial traffic — sudden spikes with no matching engagement, clustered or unusual IP sources, flat retention, and behaviour that doesn’t look human. Independent analyses put YouTube’s detection of artificial traffic in the region of 96%. Anything it flags gets removed, which is why bought or botted view counts deflate over the following days.
⚠️ The terms-of-service line: using a VPN (or anything else) to “artificially inflate” your view count is a direct breach of YouTube’s terms of service. Beyond being caught and reversed, it can put your channel at risk. There is no version of this that’s worth it — the downside is a strike against a channel you’re trying to build, and the upside is views that get deleted anyway.
Can You Use a VPN to Boost Your View Count?
This is the real motivation behind a lot of these searches, so here’s the honest answer: no. It doesn’t work, and it isn’t worth the risk.
Think about the maths for a second. To move the needle on a view count by hand-loading videos through different VPN servers, you’d spend enormous time for a trickle of views — most of which validation strips out anyway. Compare that to spending the same hour improving a thumbnail that lifts your click-through rate across every impression a video ever gets. One is a rounding error that might get you a strike; the other compounds for the life of the video.
The uncomfortable truth every experienced creator learns: there is no shortcut that beats making something people want to click and watch. Which is exactly what the last section of this guide is about.
Chasing views the hard way?
Skip the tricks. On a free discovery call we’ll find the real reasons your videos aren’t getting the views they deserve — and the fastest fixes.
A VPN — virtual private network — is a private, encrypted network running across the public internet. Think of your home Wi-Fi: the devices on it form a private network outsiders can’t just walk into. A VPN extends that idea across the world. Your device encrypts its traffic, sends it through the VPN to a server somewhere else, and that server passes it on to the wider internet.
The practical upshot is twofold. First, your traffic is encrypted, so your internet provider and network can’t see what you’re doing. Second — the part that matters for YouTube — websites see the VPN server’s location, not yours. If you connect through a server in the United States, YouTube treats you as being in the United States. That’s how a VPN unlocks region-specific content, and it’s also why VPN views land in the server’s country in your analytics.
Legitimate Reasons to Watch YouTube Through a VPN
Plenty of people use a VPN with YouTube for completely reasonable purposes — none of which harm your channel:
Privacy — keeping your viewing history away from your ISP and network.
Region-locked videos — a small slice of the catalogue is restricted by country, and a VPN can unlock it.
Security on public Wi-Fi — encrypting your connection on untrusted networks.
Creator testing — checking how your video appears or whether it’s available in another region (just remember it skews your own analytics).
If you’re choosing a provider, the two things that matter are a genuine no-logs policy and a wide, reputable server network. I break down the option I recommend in my NordVPN review and complete guide.
The Real Way to Get More Views (Skip the VPN Tricks)
If you came here hoping a VPN could grow your channel, here’s the better use of your energy — the levers that actually move views, and the guides that show you how. This is where the time you’d waste on view tricks pays off instead.
❓ Does watching your own video with a VPN count as a view?
A genuine watch of your own video counts the first time or two, VPN or not — but refreshing it repeatedly to build the count won’t work. YouTube caps repeated views from the same source in a short window and its validation system removes obvious self-inflation. A VPN doesn’t get around that; it just changes the location the (limited) views are attributed to.
❓ Do views from bought “VPN traffic” services count?
No. Services selling views through VPNs or proxies produce exactly the pattern YouTube’s validation is built to catch — clustered IPs, no real engagement, flat retention. Those views get removed, and buying them breaches the terms of service. You pay money to add numbers that disappear and put your channel at risk. Avoid entirely.
❓ Will a VPN make my videos load or upload faster?
Sometimes. If your ISP throttles video traffic, a VPN can bypass that and smooth playback, and some creators see faster uploads on a good VPN route. But this is about your connection, not your view count — it won’t change whether or how your views are counted.
VPN & YouTube Views: FAQ
Does YouTube count views from a VPN?
Yes. A view through a VPN counts as long as it is a genuine, viewer-initiated watch by a real person. YouTube does not block VPNs and does not automatically discard a view just because it came through one. The view only fails to count if it looks artificial — a bot, a script, endless looping, or part of an effort to inflate numbers — or if it fails YouTube’s location and account checks.
Can you use a VPN to increase your YouTube views?
No — and you shouldn’t try. YouTube’s view validation systems identify the large majority of artificial traffic and remove it, so inflated views get stripped out. Using a VPN to fake views also breaches YouTube’s terms of service on artificial inflation. It is slower, riskier and far less effective than simply improving your packaging and growing organically.
Does using a VPN hurt your YouTube channel?
Watching or uploading through a VPN for privacy or region access won’t hurt your channel. The risk comes only from using a VPN to break the rules — faking views, evading a ban, or artificial inflation. One thing to be aware of as a creator is that a VPN changes your apparent location, which can skew your own analytics and, for advertisers, the geography your revenue is attributed to.
Does a VPN change where my views are counted from?
Yes. YouTube attributes a view to the location of the VPN’s exit server, not your real location. That means VPN views can show up in the wrong country in your analytics, and because ad rates vary by country, heavy VPN traffic can affect how your revenue is calculated. The view still counts — it’s just attributed to the server’s location.
What counts as a view on YouTube in 2026?
A view is a viewer-initiated, intentional play of a video by a real human that has passed YouTube’s spam checks. The viewer has to actively choose to watch — clicking a thumbnail, link or play button. Autoplaying feeds, hidden or autoplay embeds, bot traffic and rapid self-refreshing do not count as genuine views.
Does YouTube block VPNs?
No. YouTube allows VPN use for normal viewing and uploading. VPN server addresses can be flagged over time, which changes how YouTube treats traffic from them, and addresses tied to malicious activity may be blocked. But an ordinary viewer on a reputable VPN watching normally is fine — users are only banned if they use a VPN to break the terms of service.
Final Thoughts
On balance, YouTube counts views from VPNs when those views are genuine — a real person, actively choosing to watch. If a view behaves like a bot, loops endlessly, or is part of an inflation attempt, validation discounts it, VPN or not. The most useful thing to take away is that a VPN is a privacy and access tool, not a growth tool. It can’t manufacture views that stick.
So if your real goal is more views, put the VPN down and pick up the levers that compound: better packaging, a clearer understanding of the algorithm, and a real strategy. That’s the work that actually moves your numbers — and it’s all one click away below.
Sources & further reading: YouTube’s definition of a view and how views are counted: YouTube Help. View-validation and artificial-traffic behaviour reflects YouTube’s documented approach and commonly reported detection figures, current at the time of writing (July 2026); YouTube may adjust its systems, so treat specific percentages as indicative. Some links on this page are affiliate links (marked rel=”sponsored”); they never change the price you pay and help fund the free content on this site.
YouTube is big business, and, unfortunately, that means a lot of people are willing to take risks to get an edge when searching for success on the platform. One of the more obvious ways of doing this is to literally buy your success. You can buy likes, subscribers, and, the focus of this post, views.
Unfortunately, life is rarely easy, and YouTube is no different. Shortcuts like these invariable end in metaphorical tears, so we thought we’d outline what we mean by fake views, and why you should steer clear of them if you want to succeed on the platform.
What Are Fake Views?
When we talk about fake views, we are not simply talking about views you have paid for. After all, when you pay YouTube to promote your channel through their advertising platform, you are essentially paying for views. The difference is that there is no guarantee on how many views you will get since you are paying for advertising.
The kind of fake views we are referring to are typically sold in amounts, and though there may be a margin for error in the number of views you actually get, the seller will often specify a number, and perhaps even guarantee that that as a minimum.
But how can that work?
Think about it, you can’t guarantee a viewer will want to watch any given video, that’s not how people work. The seller would have to have an enormous pool of YouTube viewers ready and waiting, spanning a diverse range of interests so that when you come along ready to pay for their eyeball time, the seller will be able to find enough viewers to meet the number of views they have promised.
And then there’s the compensation for those viewers. If you’re going to have a large pool of YouTube viewers on retainer, they’re probably going to want something in return. The promise of engaging content that interests them won’t be much of a draw, since that’s the same promise that YouTube makes for simply having an account. Then consider that you’re only being charged a few pounds or dollars (or whatever your local currency is) for these views, how much can the seller really offer these viewers?
Well, the answer is, of course, nothing. There are often no human eyeballs on the other side of these views, just bots. The seller can afford to give you 10,000 views for £5 (or whatever the going rate is) because they have already invested whatever time or money they need to in building their bot farm, and the rest is simply a matter of entering your video’s URL and clicking a button.
But, with that being said, are these views any good?
Do Fake Views Work?
Whether or not these fake views works is a subjective question, since “working” depends on what your goal is. If you just want to inflate your view counts for the appearance, then yes, fake views are effective. The numbers under your video will go up and it will look like you have far more viewers than you actually did.
This is a bit of a hollow game, however, since these views don’t translate into anything more than the numbers themselves. And, if you don’t have that many real human viewers, nobody will really care that you have tens of thousands of views.
What about more material metrics of success? Let’s face it, the thing most of us are concerned with when it comes to YouTube success is how much revenue our channel can generate for us. Well, that’s where fake views really start to fall apart as a path to success.
Revenue is generated from ad views and YouTube Premium subscriptions. Clearly, the fake viewer seller is not going to be buying YouTube Premium subscriptions for their bots—that would be a quick way to lose a lot of money. As for ad views, a sizable portion of ad views earn their money on interaction (clicking the ads) and bots don’t do that.
There is still money to be made from simply viewing an ad, of course, but YouTube—or, more specifically, Google—have built their business on selling advertising, and they’re not about to let that business collapse because advertisers are sick of wasting their money on fake views that don’t generate leads.
In other words, YouTube is very good at sniffing out fake views, and the improvement of that skill is one that is in constant and active development. It can also affect the numbers game we mentioned above since YouTube has been known to erase fake views from a video’s view count after the fact.
Another negative side of fake views is the way YouTube sees your channel. Even if a fake view gets through YouTube’s elite fake view defences, YouTube is going to see your channel getting a lot of views and very little engagement, which is a bad sign for your recommendation prospects. This means that, not only are fake views not helping you succeed in the short term, they can actively harm your chances of succeeding the right way in the long term.
Are Fake Views Allowed?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but fake views are not permitted under YouTube terms of service. Or, rather, you are not permitted to artificially inflate viewing figures.
Practically speaking, if you are not a serial offender, the worst you’ll face is probably your fake views being removed and your money wasted. That being said, YouTube could decide to take more severe action against you—such as banning you from the platform—and you should be prepared for that eventuality if you decide to take this risk.
Final Thoughts
Like many shortcuts in life, fake views are not worth it in the long term. And, with YouTube constantly improving their fake view prevention mechanisms, it is increasingly becoming the case that fake views offer little benefit in the short term, also.
It takes patience, but genuine, organic growth is the way to go, and there are plenty of resources right here on this blog to help you do just that!
Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube
Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.
1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search
I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.
When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.
Big mistake!
I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.
That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.
Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.
3. Rev.com helps people read my videos
You can’t always listen to a video.
Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.
This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.
A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.
4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube
I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.
I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.
That is why I could not live on YouTube without someone like PlaceIT. They offer custom YouTube Banners, Avatars, YouTube Video Intros and YouTube End Screen Templates that are easy to edit with simple click, upload wizard to help you make amazing professional graphics in minutes.
5. StoryBlocks helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways
I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.
And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.
I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.
I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the StoryBlocks website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.
There is a seemingly endless source of opportunities for promoting your YouTube videos on social media, from Twitter to Facebook, and everything in between. Pinterest is rarely the first option that comes to mind when deciding where to promote you videos, but it is very much a viable tool for promotion.
Granted, Pinterest is typically known more for its image-sharing than video promotion, but the fact that Pinterest is primarily an image-based platform can be misleading, as its real strength lies in sharing content of all kinds by leveraging the appeal of images.
In this post, we’re going to look at how to promote YouTube videos on Pinterest, but before we get into the how, let’s talk about the what.
What is Pinterest?
In the most basic sense, Pinterest is an image-sharing platform that allows users to “pin” images from around the web to their profile. Users can create boards (essentially image galleries), and in doing so, build up collections of images on a specific theme.
Crucially for the purposes of this post, pinned images come with a link to the place they were found, so that anyone interested in the image can click through to the place the image came from.
Why Pinterest?
You may be asking yourself, “if it’s a platform for saving and sharing images, what does it have to do with YouTube?” The key point is that the links to the image’s source is included.
Another key point is the fact that Pinterest receives a lot of organic search traffic from search engines. You may expect that this would mostly be from people running image searches and seeing Pinterest results, but Pinterest shows up a lot in regular text search results, as well.
Of course, it would be better if the search results took someone directly to your video, but if the choice is between someone arriving at your channel via Pinterest and not arriving at all, I think we both know which is preferable!
How to Promote YouTube Videos on Pinterest
Now that you know what it is and why it can be useful in promoting your videos, let’s take it a step at a time. Here’s how you promote your videos on Pinterest.
1. Preparation
We won’t waste time telling you that you need an active YouTube channel—we assume you already have one of those if you’re reading this post—but you will need to make a Pinterest account. You’ll also want to create a board specifically for your YouTube pins. This isn’t just for the sake of keeping everything organised (though that is helpful as well) but it helps with SEO, as all the pins on the board will be related, which will add a little weight to the board in the eyes of the search engines.
Another thing you should do as part of your preparation is ensure that your videos are branded. This means making it clear in the video who you are. You want to leave a lasting impression on the viewer (in a good way) that they’ll remember. The reason for this is that Pinterest viewers don’t need to open YouTube to see your video; they can watch it right there on the Pinterest page. That means they won’t see your subscribe button, video description, or anything else that might lead them to click more of your content.
You’ll need to grab an embed link from your video, but this isn’t as simple as it sounds. You will need the long URL for your video, which may already be the one in your browser’s address bar. If the full “youtube.com” address is there, you should be fine to copy that. But, if you click the “Share” button, make sure you are getting the full YouTube address, and not a shortened link. Pinterest will reject those shortened links as they see it as spam.
Once you’ve got your link, you can head to the next step.
3. Upload Your New Pin
Over on Pinterest, click “Add a Pin”, drop your video link in the box, and click “Find Images”. Make sure it is your video that is selected, and then pick the board you created for your YouTube videos. Finally, add a description. This could be the same description you used for your video over on YouTube, but it could also be beneficial to write something new, so search engines don’t count it as duplicate content. Regardless of which route you take, it should have plenty of relevant keywords in it. You’ll have to keep it under the Pinterest description’s character limit of 500 characters, however.
You can also take this opportunity to get a link to your blog or something similar, as this should count as a high-authority link in the search engine’s eyes.
4. That’s All, Folks!
And you’re done. You can repeat this process for other videos, perhaps set up automatic sharing to things like Facebook, but other than that, you’re all set to reap the rewards of promoting your video content on Pinterest.
Final Thoughts
When looking to promote your YouTube videos, not every method or platform is going to be right for you, but you should never rule an option out until you are sure it won’t work. This is the mistake that many fall into with Pinterest by assuming it’s no good for their needs and never giving it a try at all.
Pinterest is a powerful tool for driving organic search engine traffic to your videos, and that can only be a good thing. If nothing else, it removes some of your reliance on the ever-changing YouTube algorithm, which makes it less likely a minor tweak by YouTube will send your traffic numbers plummeting through the floor!
Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube
Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.
1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search
I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.
When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.
Big mistake!
I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.
That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.
Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.
3. Rev.com helps people read my videos
You can’t always listen to a video.
Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.
This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.
A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.
4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube
I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.
I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.
That is why I could not live on YouTube without someone like PlaceIT. They offer custom YouTube Banners, Avatars, YouTube Video Intros and YouTube End Screen Templates that are easy to edit with simple click, upload wizard to help you make amazing professional graphics in minutes.
5. StoryBlocks helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways
I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.
And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.
I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.
I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the StoryBlocks website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.
Can YouTubers see who viewed their video? The clear answer is no.
Creators get a wealth of anonymised data about their audience — but never the identity of any individual viewer. Watching a video is private. Here’s exactly what YouTube shows creators, what it keeps hidden, and why.
Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform and six Silver Play Buttons. I’m in YouTube Studio every day, so this is exactly what creators can and can’t see about their viewers.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Can YouTubers see who viewed their video?
No. Creators cannot see the individual people who watched their videos. YouTube provides only anonymised, aggregated analytics — total views, watch time, age and gender ranges, location, devices and traffic sources — never a named list of viewers. Watching is private; the only things that attach your name are public actions you choose to take, like commenting.
Can YouTubers See Who Viewed Their Video?
It’s a natural assumption in a data-saturated world that creators can see everything about their audience. And they do see a lot — just none of it identifying. The one thing most YouTubers would really love to see, a list of exactly who watched, is the one thing YouTube does not provide.
Views are anonymous to the creator. It doesn’t matter whether a channel has fifty subscribers or five million — the analytics are aggregated into totals and ranges, never broken down to “this person watched.” The only way your name ever attaches to a video is through a public action you choose to take, like leaving a comment or being a public subscriber. The view itself stays private.
What Creators Can and Can’t See
✅ Creators CAN see (aggregated)
❌ Creators CAN’T see
Total views & watch time
Who individually watched
Age ranges & gender split
A viewer’s name or account
Countries & regions
Whether a specific person watched
Devices, traffic sources, when viewers are online
Any personal or contact details
What Data YouTubers DO Get
The upside is that the aggregated data is really rich — and far more useful for growth than a name list would ever be. In YouTube Studio analytics, creators can see:
Views and watch time — how much your content is actually being watched.
Audience demographics — age ranges and gender split of your viewers.
Geography — the countries and regions where you’re watched.
Devices and platforms — phones, TVs, desktops, and where playback happens.
When your audience is online — handy for timing uploads.
That’s the data that actually drives decisions — none of it needs to identify a single person.
Why Can’t YouTubers See Individual Viewers?
One word: privacy. YouTube deliberately keeps individual viewing activity private so people can watch whatever they like without a creator tracking them. Imagine if every creator could see exactly who watched — viewers would think twice about clicking, and the whole platform would feel like surveillance. By aggregating everything, YouTube gives creators enough insight to grow while protecting the people behind the numbers. It’s the same principle that keeps your own watch history yours.
Want to turn your audience data into growth?
On a free discovery call we’ll read your analytics together and turn the anonymised numbers into a real plan.
Private subscribers — anyone who keeps their subscriptions private counts toward the total but stays anonymous, as covered in can YouTubers see their subscribers.
The theme is consistent: numbers and trends, yes; individuals, no.
How to See Your Viewer Analytics
Here’s where the aggregated data lives:
Open YouTube Studio for your channel.
Go to Analytics in the left-hand menu.
Open the Audience tab for demographics, location and when viewers are online.
Use the Reach and Engagement tabs for impressions, traffic sources and watch time.
Read those alongside your audience retention and you’ll understand your viewers far better than any name list could tell you.
Final Thoughts
So, can YouTubers see who viewed their video? No — and that’s by design. Creators get a rich, anonymised picture of what their audience does, never who those people are. As a viewer, you can watch freely knowing your activity is private. As a creator, the smart move is to stop wishing for a name list and start mining the aggregated data you do have — because that’s what actually grows a channel.
Viewer Privacy on YouTube: FAQ
Can YouTubers see who viewed their video?
No. YouTubers cannot see the identities of the individual people who watched their videos. YouTube only provides anonymised, aggregated analytics — total views, watch time, age and gender ranges, location, traffic sources and device types — never a named list of viewers. This protects viewer privacy.
What viewer data can YouTubers actually see?
Creators see aggregated analytics in YouTube Studio: total views and watch time, audience demographics like age range and gender, geographic location, the devices and platforms people watch on, traffic sources, and when their audience is online. It’s all grouped and anonymised, so no single viewer can be identified.
Can YouTubers see your account or name when you watch?
No. Watching a video is anonymous to the creator — they don’t see your account, name or profile. The exceptions are actions you choose to take publicly, like leaving a comment or being a public subscriber, which attach your channel name to that action, not to the view itself.
Can YouTubers see if a specific person watched their video?
No. There’s no way for a creator to check whether a particular person watched a video. YouTube’s analytics are aggregated by design, so even with a small audience a creator only sees totals and ranges, never individual viewing activity tied to a name.
Why can’t YouTubers see who viewed their videos?
Viewer privacy. YouTube deliberately keeps individual viewing activity private so people can watch freely without creators tracking them. Creators get enough aggregated data to understand and grow their audience, without any of it identifying the individuals behind the numbers.
What else does YouTube hide from creators?
Besides individual viewers, creators can’t see who specifically liked or disliked a video, who is subscribed if those subscriptions are private, or who shared a video. They see totals and aggregated trends for all of these, but not the individual people behind them.
A note on this guide: YouTube’s analytics and privacy model reflect YouTube Studio at the time of writing (July 2026); exact tabs and metrics can change between updates. See YouTube’s official Help Centre for the current layout.
I can help you get more views on your video in just 15 seconds. This one little tip can help skyrocket your engagement and keep people watching for longer.
YouTube is based on engagement, how you hook people, how you keep them engaged and how quickly you can deliver on what you’ve promised. That is why you need to have a perfect hook.
See, with the first 15 seconds of this video, I’ve told you what this video happens to be about, upset that expectations, and I will be delivering that value.
It’s the first 15 seconds of all of your videos that needs to set that expectation, then people will stay around for longer, they will engage for longer throughout the entire videos because they know that they’re going to get what they want.
Then that video will get promoted more because it’s been engaged with, it’s delivered exactly what they’re expecting and therefore it will get those comments, and those likes that YouTube looks to feed the algorithm.
So that’s the short version, but how does this actually work out?
Well, one, you’ve made a promise with your thumbnail and your title. In this case, I’ve promised you that I can help you get more views in 15 seconds, and I can. Just, it’s your 15 seconds, not this 15 seconds.
In the first 15 seconds of your video, you need to echo the sentiment of your title, your thumbnail, and promise some form of delivery.
I’m here to teach you that 15 second hook. You’ll notice in the first 15 seconds of all of my videos, I tell you what the video happens to be about. I’m going to show you an end screen. I’m going to monetize your Facebook page. I’m going to show you how to use the video chapters.
I deliver that in the first 10, 15 seconds, then that way, you know, “Oh, OK. So I did come for that title and it did come for what he’s promising, and he is now showing me that that will be delivered.”
Why is that so important?
Well, in any era of click baits and people having been cheated on so many times in the past, you’ve clicked on the title and that’s like, “Wow, you can’t believe this exploding car,” and then you’re 15 minutes in before they actually show it to you.
People have got used to that lie and people have got used to clicking away because they know they have the power to go and have a look at another tutorial in my case.
So, if you echo the sentiment of the title, they then know that, “Okay, I came here for chocolate cake and they promise that they will make a chocolate cake. They’ve echoed that chocolate cake within the first 10, 15 seconds.”
So effectively you’ve already told them, “Hey, you’re in the right place. Just hold my hand, sit down, get a cup of tea and I’ll deliver.”
Two, this helps you set the expectations you’ve promised at the start of the video. That even if the whole video is 7, 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes long, that they will get the thing that they’ve asked for and the longer the video, hopefully the better explained it is.
Three, deliver that value, whatever you’re promising within the first 10 to 15 seconds, do that thing as soon as possible without padding out the runtime.
Now this is me explaining the first 15 seconds, but I also at the start of this video very quickly summarized exactly what it is, sort of the hook out. If you hook them, they’ll watch for longer. If they watch for longer, YouTube loves you. Bingo.
This is me expanding on that idea. This is me explaining every fine detail of the theory and why it works and how it works for people that want to hear the nitty gritty and understand the systems behind it.
Final words
But if the video only needs to be two minutes long, don’t make it 15 because people know that when they’re being conned these days. If it’s too long and it’s not delivering, people will click away and you really need to focus on retention.
Short answer: no — monetisation does not increase your views.
It’s one of the most persistent myths on YouTube: flip the monetisation switch and the algorithm rewards you with more reach. It doesn’t work that way. Monetisation is a revenue setting, not a ranking one. Here’s why the myth exists, why monetised channels really do tend to get more views, and what actually moves the needle.
▶️ Does monetisation increase views? The straight answer
Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform, six Silver Play Buttons and 500+ creators coached. I’ve watched this myth mislead creators for years, so let’s put it to bed.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Does monetisation increase views?
No. Turning on monetisation does not increase your views. YouTube’s algorithm ranks videos by click-through rate, watch time, engagement and viewer satisfaction — not by whether a video runs ads. Monetised channels do tend to get more views, but only because you must already be successful (1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours) to monetise in the first place. The views came first, not the other way around.
Why People Think Monetisation Equals Views
Every ambitious creator hunts for an edge, so when a theory starts circulating that flipping one setting can unlock more reach, it spreads fast. The logic feels reasonable on the surface: YouTube makes money when your videos run ads, so surely YouTube has an incentive to push monetised videos harder?
It’s a tidy theory. It’s also wrong — and the reason it feels true is exactly what makes it so sticky. People see that monetised channels tend to get more views and conclude the monetisation caused it. That’s the classic trap we’ll unpick below.
Myth vs Reality
Here’s the honest breakdown of what monetisation does and doesn’t do:
The myth
The reality
“Monetisation boosts my ranking”
It’s a revenue setting — the algorithm ignores it when ranking
“YouTube pushes monetised videos harder”
YouTube pushes videos people watch — ads or no ads
“Monetised channels get more views because they’re monetised”
They get views because they were already good enough to qualify
“No monetisation means the algorithm buries me”
New, unmonetised channels can and do go viral every day
YouTube’s algorithm has one job: keep viewers watching. It rewards videos that earn clicks and hold attention, full stop. Whether a video is monetised is simply not part of that calculation.
Correlation Is Not Causation
This is the heart of the whole myth. Yes, if you look across YouTube, monetised channels really do tend to pull bigger view counts than unmonetised ones. But look at why:
To join the YouTube Partner Program you need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours (or the Shorts-views equivalent). In other words, you have to already be getting views before you can turn monetisation on at all. So of course monetised channels have more views — the views are the entry ticket, not the prize.
Mistaking that for cause and effect is like noticing that people who own umbrellas get rained on more, and concluding that umbrellas cause rain. The success came first; monetisation followed. Learn more about the requirements in my guide to the YouTube Partner Programme.
What Actually Drives Your Views
If the monetisation switch won’t grow your channel, what will? The signals YouTube measures:
Click-through rate (CTR) — a title and thumbnail people can’t help but click.
Watch time and retention — how long people stay, which is the single biggest lever.
Engagement — likes, comments and shares that signal a video is worth spreading.
Satisfaction — whether viewers finish happy and keep watching your channel.
Consistency — a steady flow of content the algorithm can learn to promote.
Pour your energy here and the views follow. Your YouTube analytics will show you exactly which of these to improve first, and clean, watchable production helps too — even something as basic as good audio keeps people watching.
Quick Wins to Actually Increase Your Views
If you want to spend the energy you were about to waste on the monetisation myth somewhere useful, start here:
Rewrite your weakest thumbnails and titles. They decide your click-through rate, and a small lift here compounds across every impression YouTube gives you (see writing better titles and the CTR rescue guide).
Fix your first 30 seconds. Most viewers leave early — a stronger hook lifts retention, and retention is what YouTube rewards with more reach.
Study your top 3 videos. Whatever made them work is your formula — make more like them rather than guessing.
Add end screens and cards to send viewers to your next video, building session time YouTube loves.
Publish consistently. A predictable schedule gives the algorithm more chances to learn who to show you to.
Not one of those is a setting to flip — they’re all about the content and how you package it. That’s the difference between chasing a myth and moving the numbers.
Chasing the wrong lever?
On a free discovery call I’ll show you where your views are really leaking — and the changes that actually move them.
Here’s the liberating part: no. Ad revenue is just one income stream, and for many creators it’s not even the biggest. Because monetisation doesn’t drive views, and views aren’t the only way to earn, you can build real income in ways that work before you’re eligible for the Partner Program:
Affiliate marketing — earn commission recommending products you use (start here, or explore the best networks).
Brand deals — paid sponsorships that need no subscriber minimum (how to land them).
Your own products or services — often the highest-margin route (selling as a creator).
The flip side of the myth: does running ads scare viewers off and cost you reach? Realistically, no. Ads add a small amount of friction, but there’s no evidence YouTube recommends monetised videos any less for being monetised. One nuance worth knowing: a video’s advertiser-friendliness (the “limited ads” yellow icon) affects how much ad revenue it earns — not how far it’s recommended organically. So make the content you want to make; just understand which topics earn more from ads. My guide on controlling which ads show goes deeper.
Bottom line: once you’re eligible, turn monetisation on — there’s no reach penalty and it adds income. Just don’t expect it to grow your channel. That job belongs to your content.
Monetisation & Views: FAQ
Does monetization increase views on YouTube?
No. Monetisation is a revenue setting, not a ranking factor. YouTube’s algorithm decides how far a video travels based on click-through rate, watch time, engagement and viewer satisfaction — whether or not the video runs ads. Turning monetisation on won’t grow your views.
Why do monetized channels seem to get more views?
It’s correlation, not causation. To monetise you must first reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours, so monetised channels are already established and successful. The views came first and unlocked monetisation — not the other way around.
Do you need monetization to make money on YouTube?
No. Ad revenue is only one income stream, and often not the biggest. Affiliate marketing, brand deals, selling your own products or services, memberships and sponsorships can all earn money without relying on the YouTube Partner Program, and many work before you’re even eligible.
Can monetization hurt your views?
Not meaningfully. Ads add a small amount of friction, but there’s no evidence that monetised videos are recommended less for being monetised. Advertiser-friendliness affects how much ad revenue a video earns, not how far YouTube recommends it organically.
What actually increases YouTube views?
The things the algorithm actually measures: a strong click-through rate from your title and thumbnail, high watch time and retention, engagement, consistency, and above all satisfying the viewer so they keep watching your channel. Content and packaging drive views — not the monetisation toggle.
Should you turn on monetization once you’re eligible?
Yes. Once you meet the requirements there’s no reach downside to enabling it, and it adds a revenue stream. Just don’t expect it to grow your channel — treat it as a way to earn from views you’ve already earned, and keep your focus on making better content.
The Bottom Line
Monetisation won’t increase your views — and now you know why the opposite looks true. Monetised channels get more views because they earned those views first; the setting itself does nothing for your reach. So stop treating it as a growth hack. Turn it on when you qualify, stack other income streams alongside it, and put every ounce of effort into the things that move views: better titles and thumbnails, stronger retention, and content people can’t stop watching. Get that right and the views — and the money — take care of themselves.
If you have been creating YouTube videos but not promoting it across other social media channels, you are missing a real trick.
First thing you need to do is go and read about the best places to share your YouTube videos for all of the ideas, and then come back here and we can run through just how important Facebook is to catapulting your YouTube views and traffic.
Why Share YouTube Videos on Facebook?
Why should you be promoting your YouTube videos on Facebook?
Well I think you should be sharing your videos on every social media platform you have! But Facebook is particularly important for several reasons:
6 Billion monthly active users
Leading non video social platform reaching over 60% of internet users
Over £17 Billion earned in ad revenue in Q1 of 2020
With those huge ad numbers and high active users you really can’t afford to miss out Facebook in your YouTube promotions, plus the platforms work together in a really effective way making it super easy for you to promote your new content
Native Videos or Embedded Videos
When deciding to share your YouTube video on other social media platforms you need to decide whether you want this to be native or embedded.
Native videos are hosted on that particular platform, for example you would download your video on YouTube and then reupload it to Facebook, so the video is then also hosted on Facebook. This is good for sharing a related video or a shorter promo clip.
Native video uploads will not increase your YouTube views directly but can help you direct traffic to the full video
Embedded Videos are where you are effectively sharing your existing YouTube video to another platform using YouTube share functions. It is still hosted on YouTube so the views you receive from other platforms will increase your YouTube video views
How to embed your YouTube video on Facebook
Embedding your YouTube video on Facebook is really simple here is a quick step by step guide to help you embed your video
Find the YouTube video you want to share and click into the thumbnail, this makes sure you are on YouTube’s distinct URL for that video
Scroll down to directly underneath the video, you will see the thumbs up / down buttons and a share button, click the share button
You should now have a list of social platforms you can share your video to, click the Facebook button
Add any text or captions you want sharing along with your video, this is a good place to explain what the video content is as embedded videos do not auto play so will require someone to click.
Click the blue post to Facebook button and that is it! Your video should now have shared across to Facebook
How to upload a native video to Facebook
Uploading a native video to Facebook is slightly more complicated but it does have it’s pro points too, first of all it’s important to note that it goes against YouTube’s terms of service to use a 3rd party app to download YouTube videos they want you to stream directly from their own servers.
But as you are creating content you will not need to use a 3rd party app because you should already have the video created and saved before you originally uploaded it to YouTube. Here is a quick guide to uploading a native video:
Locate your video file on your computer and check the files format, you want this to be an MP4, if it isn’t already then you can quickly Convert to MP4
Open the Facebook URL or app and find the standard ‘What’s on your mind’ for sharing new content. Directly underneath the text should be a button that says Photo/Video
Click Photo/Video and find the video you want to upload in your files and click open
Add text or a caption to your post, again this is always important it is a way of selling your video to stop the scroll
Finally click the blue post button and voila! You have now uploaded your video directly to Facebook.
Which should I use?
This is a trickier question and entirely depends on what your marketing goals, traffic goals etc might be. There are pros and cons to both video options and direct comparisons too which can help you decide which is right for you
Embedded video links tend to show as a smaller thumbnail whereas a native video will show at the width of the news feed making it more eye catching and noticeable when scrolling through
Auto play only works on native videos, with an embedded video the audience will need to click to get the video to play
Native videos tend to keep users on Facebook, understandably it’s a competitive field in the social media game, so where they can Facebook will keep it’s audience on it’s own platform, this isn’t good for you if you’re trying to increase your views specifically on YouTube in order to hit goals to monetize your channel.
Whether it’s natively uploaded or embedded Facebook posts are not usually crawled by search engines so it’s unlikely to increase organic search traffic, but it obviously does open up your video content to a whole different audience than the YouTube audience
There are pros and cons to both methods of sharing your YouTube videos to Facebook so it’s important you experiment with both methods to get a good feel for your Facebook audience, determine which they prefer and monitor which type of video gains you more views / click throughs.
A good way of getting the benefits of a native video but the YouTube traffic and increased channel views is to utilise both methods. Try full videos for both, but a common method for gaining traction is to create specific promo videos or a sneak peak video for Facebook.
This allows you to share a short video clip natively that will pique interest and make your Facebook audience want to click through and watch the full video on YouTube
When creating a promo video use a tool such as Adobe Spark, this allows you to cut video clips and add shorter clips while also adding slides and overlay text to your video.
This promo video can then be shared across your various social media channels with a link through to your YouTube video therefore gaining strong click throughs and increasing your YouTube views and subscriptions.
Promo videos are an excellent way of gaining the right audience, and an audience that will stick around. If they are interested enough to click through to the full YouTube video the likelihood is that the content resonates with them and they are going to watch the full video
How are you sharing your videos?
Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube
Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.
1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search
I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.
Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!
2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos
I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.
When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.
Big mistake!
I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.
That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.
Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.
3. Rev.com helps people read my videos
You can’t always listen to a video.
Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.
This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.
5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways
I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.
And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.
I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.
I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the Shutterstock website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.
You have a YouTube channel all up and running and you’ve been uploading your new YouTube videos and content to your channel, but the views aren’t coming? Need help with the best places to share YouTube videos for more views?
Sharing your your YouTube videos on social media can be a great way to boost exposure, grow your audience and seed links back to your videos. The more social networks you can post to the more likely you are to figure out what social platform is best suited to your content. Try Instagram, Reddit, Forums, Facebook Groups, Mix and learn what works best for you, then double down.
Time to set the foundations for finding the best places to share YouTube videos for more views.
Once that’s completed it’s time to share your videos. You can create the content but if you don’t tell people where to find it you may as well be talking to yourself.
Here are the best places you absolutely must share your new YouTube videos after clicking publish:
Utilise your social media channels
Whether you’re a standalone YouTube vlogger, or you’re using videos and blogging separately, you should have all your other social media channels aligned, I recommend having at least a Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Whenever you publish a new video on YouTube make sure you share it across all your channels. It is important you tailor the content, embed the videos but leave your audience wanting more.
Different types of people utilise different social media channels, but the key is to drive them to your YouTube channel so make your content enticing, show clips from the full video, and make clear click-through. These are call to actions will obvious value explained before they click on the,
As your channel grows, your promotion should grow too.
The most important place to share your YouTube videos is on your other social media channels, on a regularly basis. There are hundreds of social media schedulers available to help you with this such as Hootsuite or SocialOomph.
I recommend using a social media scheduler as you can then plan and set how often you would like a specific video to be repromoted on your social media channel. I personally use MeetEdgar to push out 30-40 social media posts every day.
One thing you can also do on Facebook is join niche groups and pages, this gives you an opportunity to share your videos and leverage your content.
Make sure what you’re sharing is useful and relevant to your viewers, but lets say for example you’re making a YouTube channel about cleaning, there are hundreds of Cleaning Facebook groups with an active audience who would be interested in your video.
Make sure you read individual group rules regarding self-promotion, but most are happy for you to share useful content within their groups.
If you need help in making your videos look great, or promoting your videos on social media, check out my resources page, for some great tools and equipment guides.
Guest Posting to Get More Views
Look around your Vlog niche and start making friends.
Is there anyone who’s open to a guest blog / vlog? Anyone who you could do a promotion exchange with?
By working closely with people in your niche you can access their audience too. There are enough people to go around especially in terms of YouTube views.
If people are watching a video in your niche chances are, they would also be interested in your content. Send people a message and see if you could host a guest video or write a guest blog for them which will in turn promote you and your YouTube Channel.
Mix Your YouTube Videos
Mix used to be known as StumbleUpon, it still has excellent reach and is extremely easy to utilise, just download the add on to your browser and ‘mix’ your content.
This basically adds it to a database of content, if a person has selected interests that coincide with yours whenever they click the mix button, they have a chance of arriving at your content.
If they enjoyed your content, they would then remix this. The more people like your content, the more people the algorithm will push your content too thus increasing your reach and views.
Reddit
Like Facebook groups, reddit is subdivided into lots of different categories and niches, it makes sense for you to create an account and engage with niche groups like the YouTube content you are creating.
There are general video subreddits you can push your video to, but the smaller more niche groups should provide a better audience.
While the users of each forum maybe smaller the value of that audience is higher than someone without a continued interest in your videos, they’re more likely to subscribe and stick around to see other content
YouTube Ad Network – Use YouTube Ads To Get More Video Views
While I would not recommend throwing money at ads in the beginning, it can be an advantage to get the ball rolling with a new video.
YouTube own integrated ad network works out at 2p per view and these are genuine people and real viewers not bots.
This can also trigger a spiral, if the viewers you have promoted to like your content they could share it further and subscribe so play around with the ad network and see if you feel its worthwhile for your business or not.
Most importantly create good high-quality content that people want to talk about, they want to share with friends, and they want to see more of.
You can publish and share a hundred times over but if the content isn’t watchable, interesting or provide ‘something’ for your audience they’re unlikely to return so make sure you hone in on your content skills and the rest should follow accordingly
Where do you share your YouTube videos? I love to embed them into my blogs – Maybe its time for you to start your own blog! – Here is an article I wrote to explain how to start started with blogging.
As the 2nd largest search engine in the world, YouTube is a widely used channel to promote, entertain, and educate audiences. YouTube has roughly 22 billion monthly visits and the average session duration is just under 40 minutes.
People like YouTube. A lot.
However, like all things on the internet getting more YouTube views has been a pursuit that people have started to throw money at–sometimes through shady enterprises–to promote their content. People are buying YouTube views in hopes of either fooling YouTube’s algorithms or convincing people that so many others have watched their video so they should too.
There’s just a few problems with this approach:
YouTube’s bot detection capabilities are getting better and better
The algorithms are paying more attention to user behavior rather than view counts
It can be expensive
If you’re a marketer or content creator wanting to increase your YouTube views for free, then the process will take time and effort; however, if you do it right you’ll be rewarded with more views, a better user experience, and opportunities to expand your content and audience viewership.
With its extensive amount of users, YouTube is one of the premier platforms in the world to reach audiences. Whether you’re sharing recipes, teaching people how to create muppet origami, or spoofing presidents, the platform has the ability to reach billions.
So, how do you generate more views on YouTube and get people to view your content?
Get Views from YouTube’s Organic Search Results
Like Google’s search results algorithms, YouTube has its own algorithms used to showcase the best and most relevant videos to users. Imagine if a blind person had the task of categorizing content by which content was best. Sound difficult?
Thankfully, YouTube has a wide variety of factors in its algorithm to decide which videos are the best and rank in the top of its search results.
1. Use Descriptive and Keyword Rich Titles
This is where your keyword research will come into play. A descriptive and interesting title will do two things: provide keywords for the algorithm to sort for relevancy purposes and attract users and inform them about what the video is about. To conduct keyword research, you can use typical SEO methods like using TubeBuddy or other keyword research tools.
Optimizing your video content for the right keywords will help gain organic views by informing users and the search engine just what your video is about.
2. Have Quality and Keyword Rich Descriptions
The video description is where you can better inform the search engines and users just what exactly your video is about. This will help increase the click-through-rate and thus the views, as users will know what to expect in your video.
Try to both stand-out and remain generic; you should capture interest while still trying to rank for short-tail keywords. Entice users above the fold with your descriptions and optimize them correctly for the YouTube search engine as you would with a normal SEO meta description.
3. Use Tags
YouTube video tags further help distinguish what your video content about and helps the algorithm understand what users will view when they see your video. These, along with your description and title, should reflect the core of what your video is about. Think short-tail SEO again.
If you need keyword help, you can use TubeBuddy, as mentioned above.
4. Optimize Your Thumbnail Image
Your thumbnail image, like a hero-image, can work wonders when increasing your YouTube views whether they’re on the organic results page, suggested videos section, or appearing on social media. Use high-quality images that feature readable and engaging fonts and facial-closeups, if they’re featured in your video.
Captions or transcripts of your videos have been heavily debated as to their ability to increase your YouTube ranking. However, closed captions can help get more YouTube views as they cater to international audiences and the disabled.
Ranking well for YouTube’s organic results can increase your views immensely and provide a sustainable method of viewership traffic. Buying YouTube views may provide a quick boost in views, but it’s not a good long-term solution as behavioral analytics are more meaningful ranking factors in the eyes of YouTube’s algorithms.
Increase Views With Your Video Content
The content in your video is the most important factor in deciding just how many views it will get. Good content will result in better behavioral analytics that YouTube’s algorithm will recognize and reward your video with better organic search positioning.
6. Provide Content that Educates or Entertains or Both
Your video content should provide value to the viewer; whether it’s teaching them how to do or understand something, or simply keeping them engaged and entertained. When users find your content valuable, they’ll return for more and increase the views on your other future video content.
7. Piggyback off of Viral Trends
Create video content that piggybacks off of already existing viral trends. There’s already a built in market desire to view content within the context of a viral phenomenon, so you should tap into it.
A good example is all the YouTube videos that were made in response to the United Airlines PR fiasco.
It’s not always easy or possible to tie your video content in with ongoing trends; however, if you can find a clever way to do it, you can boost your views on YouTube with the help of a hungry public looking for more trending contextual content.
8. Use Guest YouTubers
Similar to guest posting for blog content, guest YouTubers, industry influencers, or persons of note with their own following can do wonders for boosting your views. Similar to influencer marketing, guest YouTubing can entice your users with household industry names and provide a different and unique perspective to your industry’s sphere.
Offer a link to one of their videos or websites in your description and you can form a beneficial relationship built on reciprocity.
Generating Views From the YouTube Platform
YouTube’s bottom line is to keep users on the platform. They rake in a huge amount of cash from advertising and the more users watch videos, the more they’ll increase profits. Thus, there are numerous ways you can be active on the platform to increase your subscribers and video views.
9. Create Video Content that Imitates Your Industry’s Best
Picasso once said “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” While I would never advocate for plagiarism of any kind, Picasso’s point rings very true in regard to popular YouTube videos. A potential goldmine for boosting your views comes from the Suggested Videos section that appears on the sidebar and in a grid after a video has been completed.
YouTube’s algorithms will present content here as they would for an organic result with one caveat: the video a user just watched may have less to do with the original query they put in, and more to with the relevancy to the video the user just viewed. Thus, the content presented at the end of a watched video will be similar to the content that was just viewed.
By optimizing your video to be relevant to other popular videos, you’ll increase the chances of driving users to view your YouTube channel and video, fast.
You can target similar keywords and descriptions and create video content that covers the same topic with a more engaging tone or with more information presented in a more accessible way.
10. Use Cards
These YouTube optimization features enable you to promote your other content within your video. You can create cards that can be used to:
Promote other video content
Get more channel subscribers
Donate to a non-profit
Send traffic to your website
Encourage users to participate in a poll
In regard to increasing your video views, you should use these cards to encourage users to visit your lesser watched content and subscribe to your channel. Use your behavioral analytics to see at which points users stop watching your video and implement the card beforehand to ensure it gets seen by more viewers.
YouTube behavioral analytics provide you with a lot of actionable insights and metrics to inform every decision you make to increase your video views.
11. Create End Screens
End screens serve the unique function of doing a little bit of everything at the end of your video. It’s a chance to provide users who enjoyed your content with all the relevant information regarding your channel, other playlists, recommended videos, and your verified website.
Whether you’re gaining more subscribers or linking to your other videos, both optimization features directly or indirectly to boost your YouTube views.
To add end-screens, go to your Video Manager, click edit on the video you want to add to, and click End Screens & Annotations. From there you’ll be able to add the additional features.
End screens are a great way to promote your own content before YouTube’s algorithms recommend other popular videos and pull people away from your channel and videos.
12. Promote a Marquee Video
Having a marquee video on YouTube can help spread awareness to your other videos and to your YouTube channel. A good marker is for your video to have at least 5,000 views so that it will appear in more search results due to its already existing popularity.
As mentioned above, you can create cards, end screens, and other links to your other video content within your marquee video.
Like internal linking on websites, your marquee videos can be a great way to push traffic and views to your lesser-known videos and channel in general.
13. Use Autoplay for your Embedded Videos
Autoplay will automatically begin playing a video when it’s been embedded. You should be careful when you do this, as auto-played videos may annoy some users. If the video content is explanatory, then it might be a good idea to use it as users can immediately jump into the video that’s explaining how to do something.
14. Create Playlists
Create playlists for your content so viewers can watch it consecutively. After the first video ends, your other videos will automatically play, which will get more views for each played video without them having to navigate off the player.
You can embed playlists, post them in your channel, or have users share them to increase the total views for each playlist.
Make each one unique and give them flow and relevancy with the order in which they are played. These are great for educational or entertaining content that tells a story or goes in depth into how different components make up a whole.
15. Be Present Within Your Niche Community
Promoting yourself as an expert in your own videos is one thing, but being an active member in your niche community is another. Comment on other videos and offer your advice or feedback, and if there’s video content that is missing some vital information, link others to your content to provide them with more information.
Try to be as helpful as possible and you’ll be rewarded with more users to increase your subscribers and ultimately, your video views.
Off-page View Boosters
YouTube has the unique ability to be present on a variety of different social media platforms. It can be embedded and shared, sometimes virally, with just a few clicks. Here are some ways to get more YouTube views outside of the platform.
16. Increase Your Video’s SEO Ranking
Traditional SEO is also a viable factor to increase YouTube views as the videos have the potential to even outrank the website that they’re featured on in the search engines.
Video embeds do count as backlinks and in this case, the links are pointing to the YouTube video, which help it’s SEO ranking. With a decent ranking on the SERPs, you can double-down on the traffic your video gets and increase your views.
17. Post Links to Your Videos on Your Social Media Profiles
Cross-platform promotion, especially with YouTube can work wonders in driving users to view it. You can reach your entire base by sharing links on other profiles to funnel them toward your video. Share the link as a post, or put it in the description of your profiles to boost your views.
Also, by pushing traffic from your social media profiles to YouTube, you’ll gain favor with the algorithms by becoming the source of many session starts, which are sessions that originate on certain videos on the platform. Sessions starting on your video show that your video is bringing users to YouTube, which will result in a more favorable organic ranking and more appearances in suggest views sections.
18. Find Niche Communities to Share Your Video with
There are a wide variety of places you can share your content. Different subReddits on Reddit or Quora topics that are relevant to your video’s interests and share target audiences are a great place to share your content.
There are even places just to share your video with YouTube enthusiasts to increase it’s views like the subreddit /r/GetMoreViewsYT. On this subreddit, people post videos and vote on the ones they like the best. The winner gets stickied to the top of the subreddit for the next week for people to visit and watch.
19. Reach Out to Influencers to Promote Your Video
Influencer marketing is fast-becoming a go-to source to reach audiences for big name brands. They have built in audiences that re-share and post their content, which has the potential to provide a surge in views on a viral scale.
As viewers are already following these influencers and regularly engage with the content they provide, one share of your video can generate a lot of views for your YouTube video and channel.
20. Embed Video Subscription Plugins Widgets on Your Blog
Embedding your video will already gain more views for your video, but supplying a subscribe button to your channel will prove extremely valuable in the long-run. About 50% of views for a video come from subscribers, so increasing your subscribers will give you a good bump in views on your videos .
To install the subscription widget, follow these instructions from YouTube and use the widget on pages with your video embedded.
21. Post About Giveaways and Promotions with the Links Embedded in Your Video Description
Everyone loves a good giveaway. Posting about a promotion, giveaway, or raffle on social media and telling your followers that the link to participate is in your video’s description will send the users to the video’s YouTube page, resulting in an increase in views.
Remember to Be Patient
Getting a lot of views on YouTube takes time. The platform has its own checks and balances to ensure that quality video content is reaching its users always and often. Try building an active subscriber base, and they will make up the lion’s share of your views.
How To Get More Views on YouTube in 2019 // More views in 2019 means more watch time on youtube in 2019. If you want to grow your youtube channel in 2019 you need to make the videos that people want to see… and you can do that by seeing what videos that wanted to see from you in 2018.
Get More Views in 2019 – YouTube Views
1 – Boost YouTube Views by researching the videos that did well on your channel in 2018. Go into your analytics, check views, select the last year and look at your most popular videos. Try to remake those, add extra videos in that series or remake them to update them.
2 – Get More Views on YouTube with trends – Trends can be the rocket fuel that will get to grow your youtube channel fast in 2019. If you can make a interesting video on a topic just at it pops, you can ride the wave to the top of the traffic mountain.
3 – Want more views on YouTube in 2019? MAKE MORE VIDEOS in 2019. The more views you have on your channel, the more videos can binge watch or find you in search with. You need to make the spider web of rankings as large as possible to catch as many flies.
4 – YouTube Views can be easy to find FAST if you string them all together into a series. Think of a topic you can break into 5-6 steps and make into a series playlist. The series playlist guides people into a watch time session loop that can boost views and watch time, and help you get more subscribers.
Get More Views on YouTube FAST — Boost Views with TubeBuddy, VidIQ & Morning Fame // Small YouTubers can rank better in youtube, get more views, subscribers, and grow their youtube channel with these free youtube tools.
We can grow together, We can learn together… Start Creating!
► THANKS FOR WATCHING PLEASE REMEMBER TO LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE — https://goo.gl/oeZvZr ◄
Note — Some of my links will be affiliate marketing links. These links do not affect the price of the products or services referred to but may offer commissions that are used to help me to fund the free YouTube video tutorials on this channel — thank you for your support.
Clickbaiting for more views and subscribers has always been a media tool. Clickbait has been used by newspapers for years to boost sales by using EYE CATCHING titles.
However you can CLICKBAIT without leaving a bad taste in your viewers mouths.
How To Snowball Growth On YouTube — YouTube Snowball Effect // The YouTube Snowball Effect that offers rapid YouTube channel growth fast is something that you can use to trigger growth on YouTube. To grow on YouTube you have to be consistent and willing to experiment with your content until something sticks, then you replicate that video and make relevant, related content.
We can grow together, We can learn together… Start Creating!
► THANKS FOR WATCHING PLEASE REMEMBER TO LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE — https://goo.gl/oeZvZr ◄
Note — Some of my links will be affiliate marketing links. These links do not affect the price of the products or services referred to but may offer commissions that are used to help me to fund the free YouTube video tutorials on this channel — thank you for your support.
Why YOU Are Getting VIEWS But NOT Subscribers — Get More Subscribers on YouTube // How To Get More Subscribers on YouTube in 2018. You may have the views but they don’t seem to be converting. Getting subscribers is always a balancing act of being entertaining enough to hook them and useful enough in their life to keep you and subscribe.
Many people ask me how to increase YouTube views but for some small youtubers its not views they find hard but trying to get those viewers to stick around and how to get YouTube subscribers in the first place.
How To Get More YouTube Subscribers from Views
1 — ARE YOUR VIDEOS CONSISTENT? — Do you talk about similar topics and have the same style or format of videos? It’s is good to have a consistent look and feel to your content. If you mix it up too much or throw up wildly different videos it could confuse your audience.
2 — WHAT NORMALLY GETS YOU YOUR SUBSCRIBERS? — Dive into your YouTube analytics to investigate what gets you your YouTube subscribers. There is normally a pattern on what type of videos give you views and what YouTube videos get your more subscribers. Now you know what they want to subscribe to, make more of those videos. NICHE down into that type of content to establish a channel theme.
3 — WHERE ARE THE VIEWS COMING FROM? — Dive into your analytics and try and see where you get your views from. Is it a certain playlist, a website or some search terms. Try and make a video that you know from point #2 it more likely to convert subscribers and make it about the thing that gets you views.
4 — STAND OUT, INJECT MORE OF YOURSELF INTO THE VIDEOS — Personality is what makes everyone unique on YouTube. If your videos are just list videos with voice overs or game play footage with minimal interaction then viewers might watch the video but not feel a personal connection enough to subscribe. Engage with your audience and be more YOU in the videos.
We can grow together, We can learn together… Start Creating!
► THANKS FOR WATCHING PLEASE REMEMBER TO LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE — https://goo.gl/oeZvZr ◄
Note — Some of my links will be affiliate marketing links. These links do not affect the price of the products or services referred to but may offer commissions that are used to help me to fund the free YouTube video tutorials on this channel — thank you for your support.
![Fake Views on YouTube [Are they worth it?]](https://i0.wp.com/alanspicer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/fake-views-on-youtube-are-they-worth-it.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&quality=85&ssl=1)
