YouTube is changing how it counts views to give the numbers a boost

YouTube will soon count a view as soon as a video starts to play, lining up with the system used by Instagram, TikTok, and its Shorts videos. The update will go into effect on August 24th, "which means creators will likely see their total view counts increase faster moving forward," the platform says. Instagram and TikTok similarly add a view to a video when it starts to play or replay, while X counts a view when a user watches a video for at least two seconds. YouTube applied Instagram and…