The short answer is yes, TikTok does count your own views of your videos. When you post a video on TikTok and then watch it yourself, either in the app or on a web browser, those views of your own video will be included in the view count. This means that the view counter reflects the total number of times your video has been viewed, regardless of whether those views came from yourself or others.
How TikTok Counts Views
Whenever someone watches your video, TikTok’s system registers that view and adds it to the total view count. TikTok does not differentiate between views from the original poster versus views from other users. A view is a view, whether it’s the first one from you checking the quality of the upload or the millionth from a random stranger who stumbled across it.
The view counter reflects the total views, but does not provide a breakdown of where those views originated. So there’s no way to separate out exactly how many views were yours versus someone else’s. Even you as the original poster do not have a way to filter that data within TikTok’s analytics.
Some key points about how TikTok counts views:
- Every play of your video counts as a view, whether it’s the first time or a repeat viewing.
- Views are counted whether the video is played in the TikTok app or on TikTok.com.
- Your own profile views as the original poster are counted and not differentiated from other views.
- Views are counted as soon as the video starts playing, not based on how long it is viewed.
- Private account views still count towards the total.
Why TikTok Counts Your Own Views
TikTok includes original poster views for a few key reasons:
- Simplicity – Keeping one single view counter, regardless of source, is simple and straightforward.
- Expected Behavior – Counting own views matches user expectations and how other platforms handle view counts.
- Validity – Your views represent real plays of the video and contribute to its popularity like any other view.
- Prevent Abuse – Separating views would allow people to artificially inflate numbers by using fake accounts.
As a platform, TikTok wants to keep metrics like view counts clean, accurate and Representative of real user engagement. Including original poster views paints an honest picture of how many times a video has been clicked on and played.
How View Counts Impact Your TikTok Performance
View counts play an important algorithmic role on TikTok. Videos that accumulate more views quickly tend to get promoted by TikTok in more users’ feeds. So your own views can help give your content an initial boost when it is first posted.
However, the algorithm looks at many other factors beyond just view counts. Things like watch time, comments, likes, shares and more affect how your video ranks in people’s feeds. So while self-views help, they need to be complemented by genuine engagement from others in order to sustain and grow your TikTok channel.
Some ways view counts impact TikTok performance:
- Higher view counts signal interest to the algorithm, especially early on.
- Videos with more views tend to appear higher in feeds and search.
- View velocity (speed of accumulation) matters just as much as total views.
- Self-views can initiate growth, but engagement from others must follow.
- View count milestones (100k, 500k, 1M etc) may increase chances of being featured.
Best Practices for Self-Views
Because TikTok does count your own views, you may be tempted to repeatedly watch your new videos to try and “hack” the system. But be cautious with this approach, as too many self-views could be seen as artificial inflation and actually hurt your performance.
Here are some best practices when it comes to checking out your own TikTok videos:
- Watch each video fully once or twice shortly after posting – this gives the algorithm an initial signal that people are interested.
- Avoid continuously replaying your own videos excessively as this looks unnatural.
- Use separate accounts to check analytics and engage further, rather than all from your primary account.
- Focus more on generating authentic reactions and engagement from real TikTok users.
- Let the algorithm pick up your content naturally rather than trying to force it with self-views.
The key is using self-views judiciously to give your video a nudge, while relying mainly on organic user interest to drive growth long-term. Gaming the system too aggressively could backfire and cause TikTok to throttle your reach.
In Summary
TikTok does count the original poster’s video views towards the overall view total displayed under each video. Your own views are included in the counter just like any other user’s views. This creates an honest overall view count and matches user expectations coming from other platforms. It also provides an initial boost to new videos. However, self-views should be used sparingly, as too much artificial inflation through own views could harm your TikTok channel’s performance. Authentic user engagement remains the key ingredient to TikTok success.
