What Counts as a Play?
In Vidalytics, a play is recorded when a viewer actually starts watching your video — meaning the video begins playing. A page load or an impression alone does not count. Only when playback is initiated does the system register it as a play.
Vidalytics tracks plays in two ways:
- Unique plays — each individual viewer is counted once per video, regardless of how many times they watch it. This gives you a cleaner picture of how many distinct people engaged with your content.
- Total plays — the raw count of every time playback was initiated, including repeat views from the same viewer.
Note: If you are using the Smart Autoplay feature, keep in mind that every time your video autoplays muted when the page loads, that is counted as a play. This means your play count may be higher than the number of viewers who actively chose to watch your video.
Tip: If you want your play rate to reflect genuine viewer engagement, we recommend setting your Smart Autoplay to Always Play Muted in the Advanced settings of the Smart Autoplay feature. When the video always autoplays muted, the unmute rate becomes a much more accurate representation of your real play rate — since it captures the viewers who actively chose to engage with your content.
Why Do Play Numbers Look Different Across the Platform?
If you notice small discrepancies between play counts in different areas of your account, do not worry — your videos and your data are working correctly. Each section of the platform displays slightly different data, updated on different schedules. Here is a breakdown:
Main Dashboard
Shows unique plays from all your videos for the last 30 days by default. You can toggle the timeframe to adjust the date range displayed.
Top Videos List
Shows the total plays for each video since it was created, updated through the beginning of the previous day.
Video List
Also shows plays updated as of the beginning of the previous day.
Video Stats Page
Shows unique plays updated every 2 hours. You can also select a custom timeframe to filter the data shown.
Tip: For the most up-to-date play count on a specific video, the Video Stats Page is your best reference since it refreshes every 2 hours.
Note: All reports are displayed in the UTC timezone.
For additional questions, feedback or assistance please feel free to reach out directly to our Customer Happiness Team at hi@vidalytics.com.