Google has started showing YouTube views as lakhs and crores instead of millions and billions in India. This is currently visible only on YouTube’s Android app. Its desktop version and iOS app still displays view counts as millions and billions.
There was no update or announcement from YouTube on the change, and turns out it’s not visible for all Android users. With the new change, users will start seeing view counts displayed in lakhs and crores instead of the previous millions and billions. For example, if a video on YouTube has 10 lakh views it means it has 1 million views. Similarly, 1 crore views on a video means it has 10 million views. This is applicable to the number of subscribers as well. There’s also no option to switch back to the older view count.
This change in view count will naturally be applicable only to Indian viewers but it may end up causing confusion. YouTube has so far determined view counts in thousands, millions and billions for creators and viewers globally. Now users in India who wish to understand how many views a video has received would have to calculate and compare.
Some YouTube users who are seeing the change have already started complaining on Twitter and the platform’s support page.
Some users have also pointed out that changing the location to a different region shows the view counts as millions and billions. This however did not work on our device when we changed to places like the US or the UK.