YouTube takes paid ad views out of consideration for music charts

YouTube is no longer including paid advertising views on its platform in the YouTube Music Charts calculation. Instead, artists will now be assessed based on view counts from organic plays.

This is in an effort to maintain credibility and consistency across the platform, and provide more transparency to the industry and align with the policies of official charting companies such as Billboard and Nielsen, YouTube said in a blog post.

Additionally, YouTube has revised its methodology for reporting 24-hour record debuts. Paid advertising views on YouTube will no longer be considered for eligibility for YouTube’s 24-hour record debuts, but the changes will not impact YouTube’s existing 24-hour record debut holders.

Videos eligible are now those with the highest views from organic sources within the first 24 hours of the video’s public release. Organic sources include direct links to the video, search results, external sites that embed the video and YouTube features such as the homepage, watch next and Trending.

According to the company, YouTube Music Charts have become an "indispensable source" for the industry and the "most accurate place" for measuring the popularity of music listening behaviour. Meanwhile, YouTube said that fans, artists, and their teams have touted the number of views a video receives on YouTube within the first 24 hours as the "definitive representation of its instant cultural impact" over the last few years. Video advertising, nonetheless, remains an "effective way to reach specific audiences with a song debut", added YouTube.

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