Before you invest in a branded content project, pay to have your brand integrated into a possible 'hot' video or present to your CEO about the huge numbers 'viewing' your YouTube video, TubeMogul demonstrates that the method of counting video views on online portals varies greatly among the internet's top sites. 

TubeMogul, announced the results of research today clarifying what counts as a "view" across video sharing sites (i.e. YouTube).

TubeMogul tested various actions on 14 different video sites, including:

• hitting refresh on a video after it starts playing,
  
• watching more than half of a video,
  
• watching a video to completion and
  
• playing embedded videos.
  

TubeMogul found that once a video starts playing, all but three sites tested logged a view no matter how much of the video is watched, reflecting an increased standardization since the study was initially published last June.

Interestingly, both Youtube and Yahoo! Video, joining the majority of video sites, lessened their standards since last June, previously having IP address-based constraints. Now, both sites count everything once the video starts playing. It appears that Blip and Metacafe are lone holdouts to a stricter, IP address-based standard. There is also some spotty disagreement (DailyMotion, Howcast) on whether to count embedded views and how they are counted.

"That a standard is starting to emerge, with big players like YouTube embracing it, is great news for content creators trying to monetize their videos and relying on views data to sell ads," commented Brett Wilson, Co-Founder and CEO of TubeMogul. "That said, further transparency and standardization would be ideal."