I just tested this by finding some random video about cheese with a low number of views (827 as I write this).
I watched the WHOLE DAMN THING. TWICE. Kidding, I love cheese, it was lovely. Both times I watched it via Invidious instances. It was 827 before, still 827 right now.
Edit: OK, looking now, it’s up to 830. Dammit, have one of you all been watching my cheese video? I never watched it when I loaded it from YT direct. So there’s 1 extra view.
So, it seems like not. Edit: But Actually, yes.I just tested this by finding some random video about cheese with a low number of views (827 as I write this).
I watched the WHOLE DAMN THING. TWICE. Kidding, I love cheese, it was lovely. Both times I watched it via Invidious instances. It was 827 before, still 827 right now.
Edit: OK, looking now, it’s up to 830. Dammit, have one of you all been watching my cheese video? I never watched it when I loaded it from YT direct. So there’s 1 extra view.
I’m pretty sure YouTube randomly “fuzzes” the public view count of videos specifically to prevent this kind of research.
You need to finish the study by proving it does change the views when you watch via youtube directly