Units and metrics
Shorts views
Last updated by The PanelCompare editorial team
Why does shorts views matter to a buyer?
The pricing is unusually legible because at least one panel prices purely on committed volume rather than on quality wording: a Shorts views-plus-likes bundle falling from $0.90 at a 3,000 minimum to $0.55 at 300,000, all lifetime-guaranteed (PanelCompare domain research, 2026-09-06). Against long-form views clearing near $0.90, and floors an order of magnitude lower, Shorts inventory is scarcer and dearer.
The premium tiers are worth reading as a map of what is actually being sold. Observed rows run $1.18–$2.11 standard, $1.56 for ads-sourced with a 365-day refill, $3.37 real-and-active, and $7.05 for Discovery Ads placement, with retention-specified stock at $1.40–$1.60 for 20–25 seconds of watch time (PanelCompare domain research, 2026-09-06). A dedicated Shorts subscribers row exists at about $31.88 and requires at least three Shorts on the channel.
How does shorts views show up in a price list?
Shorts rows sit in the YouTube category with the surface named explicitly, and are frequently bundled with likes so a single order moves two counters. Bundling is also why a Shorts rate cannot be compared directly with a bare views rate.
The retention caveat applies here more than anywhere: Shorts rank on completion and rewatch, so a sub-second view is worse than no view. Where a row does not state a retention figure, assume it has none.
Think this definition is wrong?
Terminology in this market is set by the panels that use it, and it moves. If a panel uses shorts views to mean something other than what is written here, send us the listing and we will either correct the definition or record the variant. The process is on the about page.