Video streaming site iQiyi stops displaying view counts to combat click farming

Company pledges to “say farewell to the traffic-only era”

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View counts that used to be displayed at the bottom left corner is now replaced by its new Heat index. (Picture: iQiyi)

Published: 9:04pm, 4 Sep 2018Updated: 8:38am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

iQiyi, one of China’s biggest video streaming sites, won’t show you how many people have watched a video -- so they can try to stop click farming.

“Many people in the industry see viewership numbers as the target,” iQiyi said in a statement, “And they either deviate from their original motives, or hype vulgar content to attract eyeballs. It even generates illegal behavior such as click farming.”

The company says click farming has created an unfair competition environment for producers, users and advertisers.

So how will you know whether a video is popular? iQiyi’s solution is to replace view counts with a “Heat” index. It will be based on viewing behavior, sharing and other interaction -- as well as the “reputation, social influence and value orientation” of the videos.

What does that mean? It could point to the source for these changes. In iQiyi’s statement, it mentioned a government notice from June -- which said that video sites should not engage in unfair competition.

Video streaming site iQiyi stops displaying view counts to combat click farming

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Company pledges to “say farewell to the traffic-only era”

Company pledges to “say farewell to the traffic-only era”