Buying YouTube views. It's a controversial subject in Kenya particularly in the music industry, and many hold strong feelings about it.
Why do artists buy YouTube views?
Social proof. It's proven that people are more likely to support that which already seems to be receiving immense support. You are more likely to click on the YouTube video with 50,000 views than one with 200 views, aren't you? It's human nature.
Artists and content creators buy YouTube views as a means of promoting their work for different reasons - it could be a new artist looking to get some early traction to kick-start their career, or a well-known star looking to shore up their image of a chart-topping, best-selling artist.
Can I Buy YouTube Views in Kenya?
Let's get some myths and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) out of the way. Is it possible to buy YouTube views in Kenya? Yes, absolutely. It's possible to buy YouTube views from anywhere in the world. But not all views are made equal - so WHERE an artist is 'buying' their views matters.
YouTube Ads
In fact, Youtube itself is the biggest seller of Youtube views - in the form of pre-roll ads which you can purchase. Who knew? The safest, most sure-fire way to get views on your videos is to pay Youtube to show it to as many people as possible.
In music, many artists backed by record labels or deep-pocketed family and friends among others use YouTube ads to promote their music. Some of the biggest global hip-hop hits of 2021 so far, such as Yungeen Ace's Who I Smoke and Cico P's Tampa, for instance, have all been promoted using pre-roll ads on YouTube. Pre-roll ads play first when a YouTube user selects a video.
How Else Can I Buy YouTube Views Apart from Ads?
As you can imagine, advertising on Google-owned YouTube doesn't exactly come cheap. This is why many artists opt for third-party services which offer different packages including YouTube views, likes and comments.
As mentioned earlier, not all views are made equal. It is important to note that while buying YouTube views is not in any way illegal, YouTube's Terms of Service (TOS) warns against tactics including using bots or tricking people into viewing your video.
YouTube’s Partner Program Policies read in part: “Do not employ third party sites and tools to automatically generate artificial subscribers or views.”
This is why, if you choose to buy YouTube views using a third-party service, you have to ensure that you are getting the highest quality views possible. Some of the third-party services use reputable websites and social media marketing techniques to ensure you are getting essentially 'human' views that can't be flagged by YouTube.
Some offer geo-targeting to ensure, for example, that views on a Kenyan artist's music video come from East Africa.
Use of bots which continually refresh the video in a bid to run up the view count could easily be detected by YouTube and action taken against your video or account.
Choosing a third-party service to promote your video therefore means reading the T&Cs and ensuring that you know exactly what you're paying for and what you're getting.
How much Does it Cost to Buy YouTube Views?
Depending on the service, you will pay between $30 (Ksh3,200) and $60 (Ksh6,400) per 5,000 views on YouTube. You will pay extra for add-ons including likes and comments.
Most services allow payment via Credit Card, PayPal or Bitcoin.
Buying likes and comments can be important to ensure there are no big discrepancies between the view count and engagement rate.
Examples of Services You Can Use to Buy YouTube Views
There are countless services out there that can help you get more views on your video, but it is important to go for a reputable service with a capable of delivering what you need - including views, subscribers, likes or geo-targeted comments.
Among well known platforms are NemoViews Youtube Marketing Service, MediaMister, StormViews, 1000followers.co and Social Empire.
Does Octopizzo Buy YouTube Views?
Octopizzo has long been accused of buying YouTube views, including on his recent single Pockets.
Willy Paul has also been accused of doing so on his latest single Lenga which features Size 8.
The truth is without diving deep into their analytics data, which isn't publicly accessible, no one can say for sure. By virtue of their status as top artists and celebrities, they definitely have a stream of organic traffic in any case.
Some have cited the fact that the YouTube view count on a video like 'Pockets' slightly dropped at some point, after getting close to 800,000. YouTube's algorithms, in general, review view counts to detect any unwelcome practices on uploaded videos. The minimal drop, however, isn't sufficient to say that most of the rapper's YouTube views are bought.