Video View

A video view is a platform-defined threshold of watch time or interaction that counts as someone having "viewed" a video ad — and the threshold differs by platform.

There is genuinely no universal definition here, and treating platform view counts as comparable is a common analysis mistake. YouTube's TrueView counts a view at 30 seconds of watch time (or the full duration if shorter, or an interaction like a click). Meta's "ThruPlay" counts a view at 15 seconds or full completion, whichever comes first, and separately reports 3-second, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 95%/complete view milestones as distinct metrics.

Before comparing "cost per view" or "views" across YouTube and Meta campaigns, confirm which definition each platform used — otherwise you're comparing a 30-second commitment against a 3-second one and calling it the same metric.