> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://chrislatham.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A million views can still be a failed video - URL: https://chrislatham.ca/a-million-views-can-still-be-a-failed-video/ - Published: 2026-09-01T14:40:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-01T14:40:09.000Z - Description: A view count cannot tell you whether a video worked until you define the job the video was created to do. Awareness, consideration, and conversion videos need different scoreboards. - Author: Chris Latham - Tags: Marketing Observations A million views can still be a failed video. And a video with 200 views can do exactly what the business needed it to do. The first thing I want to know is not, “How many views did it get?” I want to know: **What was the objective of the video?** If the objective was visibility or awareness, then the view count matters. From there, I want to dissect where those views came from. Were people watching on a television or a phone? Which regions did they come from? Does the available demographic data resemble the people the business actually wants to reach? But if the objective was conversion, views are not the priority. I want to know whether viewers followed the call to action, visited the intended page, filled out the form, or booked the call. You cannot decide whether a video worked until you know the job it was hired to do. ## Views just became an even looser number YouTube recently changed what it counts as a view. Starting August 24, a view is counted from the first frame across Shorts, long-form videos, podcasts, and live video. What YouTube previously treated as a view is now called an “engaged view,” meaning someone watched past that initial frame or clicked to watch. YouTube says recommendations did not change because of this update, and analytics such as click-through rate, average view duration, and retention remain anchored largely to engaged viewing. In plain English: the number at the top can rise without telling you that more people actually paid attention. That does not make views useless. It makes context more important. I have spoken with creators who have large followings, and they will tell you that getting views is the easy part. Getting people to take action is the challenge. Short-form platforms can send a video stratospheric. But you may have no idea how many of those viewers belong to your target market versus how many simply encountered it while scrolling. If a 10-minute video gets a large view count while most people leave after 10 seconds, the headline number is doing a lot of work that the audience did not. ## Three videos. Three different jobs. Not every video should be judged on the same scoreboard. ### **An awareness video** This should answer one of the common questions people have when they first discover your business. Tie the answer to a story if you can. Its job is to introduce your name, message, and way of thinking. **Reach and relevant views matter here.** ### **A consideration video** Should go deeper into how you solve a problem. It should also explain who you are not a fit for. Business owners often avoid that second part because they worry about turning someone away. But saying who you cannot help usually does more for your credibility than claiming you can address everybody. **Someone who is good for everybody is good for nobody**. ### **A conversion video** Should focus on one specific pain point. Walk through how you solve it. Use a whiteboard if that makes the process easier to see. Add a relevant case study or client testimonial when you have permission and real proof. The potential audience naturally gets smaller as the video moves closer to conversion. There are more people who can watch a broad awareness video than there are qualified prospects currently trying to solve the exact problem in your bottom-of-funnel video. Fewer views there may not be a failure. It may mean the video was built for a smaller, more valuable audience. ## Borrow this from old-school print advertising Before digital attribution, businesses placed different phone numbers in print ads for different regions. When the phone rang, the number told them which ad produced the call. Do the same thing with your videos. Stop sending every viewer to your homepage and trying to reconstruct a journey you cannot actually see. Create a dedicated version of the destination page for each channel. Give YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram their own URL or folder path. The pages can contain the same core information; the distinct address tells you where the visit began. You can still ask prospects how they found you. Their answer is often incomplete because they may remember the first place they saw you, the last place they clicked, or only the channel that stuck in their mind. If someone lands on your YouTube page and says they came from another platform, that is useful too. It shows you that the journey crosses channels. And no, creating another page is not overkill. It is 2026\. Copying a page and changing its URL is easier than ever. If you have a web designer, this may be one of the simplest requests you give them. ## Try this with one video Create one video explaining how your process differs from the alternatives, not by attacking competitors, but by showing how you work and why you work that way. Then: 1. Give the video one clear objective: awareness, consideration, or conversion. 2. Choose the metric before you publish it. 3. Give it one call to action. 4. Send viewers to one dedicated, channel-specific page. 5. Keep promoting it for weeks or months instead of posting it once and letting it sit. Your next video is also another chance to own your message online instead of leaving other people to explain your business and process for you. Nothing is better than hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. If this was helpful, reply and say thank you. Or send me the objective of the video you are planning and the metric you intend to track. If you have a question about the setup, ask it. I would genuinely like to know where you are getting stuck.