YouTube is changing the way it measures success on the world’s biggest video site following a series of scandals. There’s just one problem: The company is still deciding how this new approach works.
The Google division introduced two new internal metrics in the past two years for gauging how well videos are performing, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. One tracks the total time people spend on YouTube, including comments they post and read (not just the clips they watch). The other is a measurement called “quality watch time”, a squishier statistic with a noble goal: To spot content that achieves something more constructive than just keeping users glued to their phones.