Video views (post)

General description
The number of times a video was viewed during its lifetime. The definition of video views differs per platform. Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn consider a video viewed when it is watched for 3 seconds or more; YouTube when it is watched for over 30 seconds; X when it is 50% visible on the feed for over 2 seconds; Instagram Reels when it has been watched for at least 1 millisecond; and for Snapchat, immediately upon opening the video snap. The set of content can be defined by profiles, content labels or profile labels, and filtered using various parameters.

This metric compares post performance for Organic vs. Paid data. Paid data shows promoted/boosted posts related to a Facebook page. Some posts are counted in both categories if they appear as both Organic and Paid to a user. Metrics may vary due to Facebook API limitations.

Platform
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube

Platform reach
Cross-platform

Alternative/specific description

Facebook
Number of times your page’s videos were viewed for 3 seconds or more over a selected date range. Facebook Reels plays are counted as Video Views. Plays are defined as video sessions with 1 ms or more of playback, however, reels replays are not counted.
Twitter
Total video views on your video tweets from a selected date range.
Snapchat
The number of times a video snap was viewed during its lifetime. A view is counted immediately upon opening the video snap and for each time it is rewatched. The set of content can be defined by profiles, content labels or profile labels, and filtered using various parameters.
Instagram
Instagram considers a video viewed when it was watched for 3 seconds or more. Instagram reels plays are counted as Video Views. Plays are defined as video sessions with 1 ms or more of playback.
As of April 21, 2025, new data for Instagram video views and impressions will be replaced by the Media views metric. Media views are available for all type of Instagram content (Post, Reels, Stories). For post-deprecation updates, see the Video Views (Post Level) section in Instagram Insights Metrics Deprecation (April 21, 2025) and Views Integration - Updated.
- Scope - what is included
  - Instagram posts with video media type
  - Reels
  - Stories with video media type
- Liminations
  - Instagram Carousels
    Video views are not supported for carousel posts, even if a video is attached. This is due to platform limitations.
  - As of January 8, 2025, the original metric for video views on carousels was deprecated.
  - To ensure data consistency, we will clean the database and mark video views as N/A for all carousels created after January 8, 2025.

Organic or Boosted

Organic + Boosted
LinkedIn, Twiter, TikTok, YouTube (if video contains ads)
Organic
Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube (if video does not contain ads)

Private or Public

Public
YouTube
Private
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter

Level
Post

ADS
No

Dimension
date.day

TikTok

The total number of views the video has received.

Counts when playback duration is >0.
Playback is the first playback in an impression session.
If the user swipes away from the ad then swipes back, it would be counted as 2 impressions. Therefore a new video view will be counted again with the new impression session.

X (Twitter)

The underlying metric displays the video view aggregated across all Tweets in which the given video has been posted. In other words, the metric includes combined views from tweets, retweets, and reposted tweets. This is different to Content impressions which is specific to individual tweets. As a result, the number of video views could be significantly higher than the number of impressions.

LinkedIn

Video views with play-pause cycles for at least 3 seconds. Auto-looping videos are counted as one when loaded and subsequent auto-loops do not increase the count.

Instagram (reels)

For counting Instagram reels, both plays and replays are counted towards video views.

Organic vs Boosted/Paid split option (Facebook only)

You can easily display and review the impact of your promoted content by using the Organic vs Paid option in the Breakdown and Filter menus when you are designing your widget.

The option is available for the following widgets:

The availability of the organic vs boosted/paid split in individual widget is indicated by additional icons:

Facebook reels use just one video views metric. No other data is included and FB reels do not support the organic/boosted split. This is down to API limitations. As a result, we are using the blue_reels_play_count mapped into Emplifi's video_views metric.

Examples:

Breakdown

Filter

Filter options

After you design your widget, the Organic vs Boosted/Paid filters are indicated by their icons directly in the widget’s visualization on the dashboard.