Buying views vs. real views: what's the best option for your YouTube channel?
YouTube channels are experiencing increasingly fierce competition, especially when it comes to the number of views. Many channel owners are therefore turning to view purchases to quickly boost their number of views. This is particularly the case for artists who want to make a name for themselves quickly, by encouraging the algorithm to highlight their latest clip or video. But is it really a good idea? In this article, we’ll compare view purchases with actual views, to give you the best advice on how to improve your digital visibility.
Why buy views?
Views are one of the main drivers behind the success of a YouTube channel. The more views a channel has, the more likely it is to attract the attention of Internet users and therefore increase its popularity.
However, getting views can be a challenge, especially when you’re just starting out. To overcome this difficulty, many channel owners, companies and singers resort to buying views. This is a relatively common practice on YouTube.
But what are the real benefits of this practice? And are they really interesting for you?
First of all, it’s important to remember that when you buy views, you’re also buying potential subscribers. There can be a ‘leverage’ effect that makes Internet users more likely to subscribe to a channel that already has a certain number of views, because it gives them the impression that the channel in question is popular and therefore worthy of interest. However, this effect is fairly random, as it is obviously not such an important factor in the eyes of Internet users.
Another, more targeted, point concerns YouTube’s algorithm. Among the platforms that sell view purchases, one of the advantages highlighted is that the algorithm is more likely to highlight a channel that has a good number of views on its videos. In itself, this principle is perfectly valid, but there are a few nuances to bear in mind, especially in the case of fake view purchases.
To sum up, you might think that buying views is a quick and easy way to raise your profile and improve your channel’s reputation, but it’s more of a façade and a trap that many channel owners fall into every year.
What are the disadvantages of buying views on YouTube?
Although buying views can be an effective way of rapidly increasing the number of views of your videos, there are also a few drawbacks. First of all, it’s important to remember that the views you buy are actually bots, so it’s not real Internet users who will discover your videos.
YouTube is not very keen on buying views either. In fact, if YouTube ever discovered that you had bought views, there is a good chance that your channel would be banned from the site. We mentioned earlier that a large number of views arouses the interest of the algorithm. This is a double-edged sword, because quite often the algorithm will detect that these are fake views, and penalise your video, your channel and your visibility accordingly.
It also means that you’ll have less exposure on the platform, to your subscribers or your target audience, which you don’t want at all!
In practice, the purchase of views serves essentially to inflate what are known as vanity metrics. We call them that because their only interest is in artificially inflating the number of views of your videos, just to give the impression that you’re making a breakthrough. Most of the time, platforms that sell fake views play on the ego of channel owners to sell their formulas. Don’t fall into this trap!
In short, although buying views can be an effective way of rapidly increasing the number of views on your YouTube channel, it does have its drawbacks, which should not be overlooked.
How much does it cost to buy views on YouTube?
Buying views on YouTube can be very affordable. Many websites sell views at prices ranging from a few cents to a few euros per 1,000 views, and up to several thousand euros for 1 million views.
Again this may seem like a bargain, especially if you compare the cost of view purchases to typical advertising costs (which we will discuss in more detail below). Don’t forget that buying views is essentially about reassuring yourself, but it’s not about real people.
So it’s not a sustainable solution, even if it is affordable, because you’re risking a lot and you won’t have a ‘real’ community created through these views. As a group or artist, or as a company, this is your number 1 objective.
How can you detect view buying on a YouTube channel?
In fact, it’s quite easy to see which YouTube channels are buying views:
- If possible, look at recent videos, just released, on a specific channel. If they reach a high figure, and even more so, a round figure (e.g. 250,000) in just a few minutes, then you can be sure that they are buying fake views;
- Another element is to look at the number of subscribers in relation to the number of views. This factor is much less easy to analyse, as many Internet users watch videos without subscribing. Similarly, some services offer dummy subscribers, so this is not the best method;
- On the other hand, watching the comments on videos with many views is very interesting. If there are very few comments in relation to the number of views (a few dozen at most), you might wonder. If the comments seem fake, or a little too general, then they’re probably fake.
Note, however, that this is not always the case: a YouTube video that gets a lot of views but few comments or Likes, or that comes from a channel with few subscribers, does not necessarily mean that you are buying fake views. If you’re advertising on YouTube, there are certain formats (InStream) that encourage very little interaction and bring in a large number of views compared to the rest of the indicators.
So you see, if you can detect the purchase of fake views, subscribers or comments yourself using the tips above, YouTube’s algorithm can certainly identify them for itself (knowing that it knows the source of traffic to your video, and can therefore identify traffic from advertising).
But if buying fake views isn’t the solution for you, how can you boost your visibility on YouTube legally and sustainably?
Pay for real views with YouTube Ads: a much more cost-effective and sustainable solution
Most YouTube users don’t realise how easy it is to buy views on YouTube. In fact, many people do it without even knowing it. This is the case for channel owners who want to advertise, and who are sold fake views.
The best way to improve your visibility and create a community that will grow and last over time is to use YouTube ads.
With this solution, you pay to distribute your content to real Internet users who are potentially interested in it. Targeting is much more precise: you speak directly to your target audience, or at least to web users who are likely to be interested in your content, music and videos.
What’s more, targeted advertising campaigns give you greater control over your budget, as you only pay when users view your content (on average 30 seconds), unlike view purchases where you pay a flat rate for thousands of views.
The advantage of YouTube Ads campaigns is that you can monitor your performance in real time, and adjust your budget accordingly. It’s more expensive than buying views, of course, but it’s a solution that has a real impact on your business this time.
Although it’s an ideal solution, advertising on YouTube also has one drawback: it’s difficult to master. It’s not easy to set up advertising campaigns if you’re not familiar with them. Worse still, poor targeting or settings can lead to paying for poor results. Optimising your campaigns is an area of expertise in its own right, which is why, at Red Label Agency, we’ve chosen to offer packs for setting up your advertising.
With us, all your campaigns are set up by hand, individually and at low cost. All you need to do is send us the link to your promotional video(s), your audience’s target area of interest, your target country and possibly a few keywords, and we’ll take care of the rest!
We’re talking about advertising here, not buying views: even though your video may not get much interaction depending on the format (e.g. an ad shown in a video that your target audience is already watching), it still gives you a great deal of exposure. To ensure that your investment is effective, you can monitor the performance of your advertising campaigns in real time. If in doubt, refer to this article. If you are interested, you can consult our various offers by clicking on the button below. Our YouTube Ads experts will be happy to help if you have any questions!
In conclusion, if you want to increase the number of views on your YouTube channel, opt for a targeted advertising campaign with YouTube Ads. This solution is much more advantageous and sustainable, not least because it allows you to reach real Internet users who are potentially interested in your content.
Buying views may seem like a good option for YouTube channels looking to gain popularity, but in reality they’re not as beneficial as they seem. On the contrary, they are pointless in the short term and detrimental in the long term. Real views are a better indicator of the quality of your content and the engagement of your audience, and they can help you win real, loyal subscribers.
FAQ Buying views vs real views
What's the difference between buying views and actual views?
Buying views involves paying for robots to watch your videos. Real views are views that you receive for free, generally because people found your content interesting and shared it.
Why are sight purchases a bad idea?
Buying views can be detrimental to your YouTube channel because YouTube detects this type of activity and can penalise your channel by moving it down the search results. What’s more, the subscribers you buy aren’t real and won’t show any interest in your content.
Why are real views a better option?
Real views are a better option because they tell YouTube that your content is interesting and relevant to viewers. This can boost your channel in search results and attract real subscribers who will be interested in what you have to share. To boost your real views, it’s best to have a good YouTube strategy and use YouTube ads.
How can I get more real views on my videos?
There are several ways to increase the number of real views on your YouTube channel. You can create interesting and unique content, optimise your videos for search engines, promote your channel on other platforms or via YouTube Ads, and interact with other YouTubers and the YouTube community.
What's the best way of knowing whether my efforts are bearing fruit?
There are a number of statistics you can track on YouTube to see whether your efforts are bearing fruit. Vous pouvez voir le nombre de vues, de likes, de commentaires et de partages sur chacune de vos vidéos, ainsi que le nombre d’abonnés à votre chaîne. If you’re using YouTube ads, you’ll have an additional interface that gives you new metrics, such as click-through rates based on the target audience.
