Facebook is challenging YouTube as the king of online video. Facebook has been emphasizing video, widely seen as the future of digital marketing, and has reached 4 billion video views per day, up from 3 billion in April.
Well, Facebook claims 4 billion views per day. There’s more to video metrics than meets the eye, it seems.
In a blog post on Medium, YouTube video star Hank Green accused Facebook of inflating its figures for video views. It does it by counting a video as viewed after just three seconds, even if the user scrolls over it with the sound off while barely noticing it, he says. Most people are still watching, or rather scrolling past the silent and ignored video, after three seconds.
YouTube doesn’t count a video as viewed until after 30 seconds, what he considers reasonable. That’s after people become truly interested in watching.
The seconds are no small issue. Views are the most followed metric. It’s what video producers sell to advertisers to justify their fees. Plenty of video producers are making a handsome living through YouTube. Green himself runs what he calls a small, profitable business employing 30 people. His VlogBrothers channel boasts 2.6 million subscribers.
Confused by Measurement Metrics
“Ad agencies and brands are confused enough without Facebook muddying the waters by calling something a view when it is in no way a measure of viewership,” he says. Not pulling punches in his post, Green says Facebook is “intentionally and blatantly over-counting to the detriment of everyone except them.”
Facebook’s worse offence is failing to identify illegally uploaded content, what amounts to cheating, Green says. Of the 1000 most popular Facebook videos of Q1 2015, 725 were stolen re-uploads, he contends.
Facebook naturally disagrees with Green. “If you have stayed on a video for at least three seconds, it signals to us that you are not simply scrolling through a feed and you’ve shown intent to watch that video,” Facebook Product Manager Matt Pakes wrote in Medium in response to Green.
Facebook uses the Audible Magic system to spot unauthorized videos. The system includes reporting tools that allows viewers to flag a video as a copyright violation.
The Importance of Watch Time
YouTube focuses on how long people watch videos, probably because people watch its videos longer. It boasts that its watch time increased 60 percent in the second quarter when compared to the same quarter last year. “Our mobile user sessions now average 40 minutes [per session],” Jamie Byrne, YouTube director of content strategy, explained to Digiday. “Something like that happens when you focus on watch time.”
It’s not even clear about its views. Its statistics claims “billions of views” by 1 billion users a day. Marketers should not use views to measure their results or judge social media networks, Byrne argues. Focusing on views will prompt decisions based on people clicking on thumbnail images.
The controversy highlights the need for marketers to examine a range of metrics. Basing decisions solely on views can indeed lead to poor decisions. The hullabaloo goes beyond Facebook vs. YouTube. Other video-centric social media networks are competing for the attention of viewers, digital marketers and advertisers, and may be motivated to exaggerate metrics that benefit their own needs. Savvy marketers will consider the network’s audience, study a range of metrics, and learn how networks define metrics like views.
Bottom Line: Accusations that Facebook overcounts views for its own benefit underscores why marketers need to examine a range of metrics when considering social media marketing plans. The controversy also draws into question views as the prevalent standard for comparing online videos and social media platforms.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
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