YouTube Views Tracking

As of August 24, 2026, the way YouTube tracks views on all platform content (including YouTube videos, Art Tracks, and Shorts) has changed.

YouTube tracks multiple types of view - public views, from the moment someone begins watching your video, and what they call 'Engaged Views', which occurs when someone continues watching the video for a few seconds after the first frame.

Previously, YouTube metrics showed these Engaged Views - only the instances where people continued watching the video for a few seconds. Now, if you look at your views on YouTube, that number is the public views - anytime your video is viewed at all, from the first frame.

There are important notes on this with regard to your UnitedMasters Insights and royalties:

1. Not every view that you see on YouTube is eligible for payment. The only monetized views are Engaged Views - so YouTube will not pay for every view you see in your metrics.
2. The way royalties are calculated will not change. According to YouTube, creator earnings have always been based on Engaged Views, and will continue to be based on Engaged Views. This means that the way that YouTube generates and pays royalties will not change - you'll still receive the full royalty amount that YouTube sends to us on your behalf.
3. Your UnitedMasters Insights may differ from your YouTube insights. On your UnitedMasters Insights tab, we only track Engaged Views, since this is the metric YouTube uses to calculate your payments. In YouTube, you'll see your total public views. So, it may look like we're not taking into account all of your YouTube views. No need to worry about this - you'll still be paid for every view that YouTube deems eligible.

YouTube has a public forum post, which may help answer any further questions, at this link.