Video Play Tracking

Understand which videos engage your audience most.

Overview

Video Play Tracking shows you exactly which videos your readers watch in your published stories. Track plays, completion rates, and engagement across all video types—cover videos, uploaded videos, YouTube embeds, and Vimeo embeds.

This feature is available exclusively to Business plan users.

Privacy-First Design

We built Video Play Tracking with privacy as a core principle. Here’s how we protect your readers:

What We Track

✅ Play count – How many times each video is played
✅ Completion rate – Percentage of viewers who watch to the end
✅ Progress milestones – 25%, 50%, 75% completion points
✅ Device type – Desktop, mobile, or tablet (aggregated)
✅ Video label – Descriptive name for each video

What We Don’t Track

❌ Personal information – No names, emails, or identifiable data
❌ IP addresses – We hash IPs immediately; raw addresses are never stored
❌ Cookies – No tracking cookies are used
❌ Cross-site tracking – We only track plays within your stories
❌ Individual viewer behavior – All data is aggregated and anonymized

How We Protect Privacy

Protection

Description

Anonymous by default

Play events contain no personally identifiable information

IP hashing

IP addresses are one-way hashed before storage

No cookies

Works without setting any tracking cookies

Author-only access

Only you can see your video play data

Supported Video Types

Video Play Tracking works automatically with all video types in your stories:

Video Type

Source

How It's Tracked

Cover Video

Looping video at story top

Requires 3+ seconds of watch time

Native Video

Uploaded MP4/video files

Tracks play, progress, and completion

YouTube

YouTube embeds

Uses YouTube IFrame API

Vimeo

Vimeo embeds

Uses Vimeo postMessage API

Note: Cover and looping videos require at least 3 seconds of viewing to count as a play. This prevents autoplay from inflating your stats.

How It Works

Publish your story with videos in the content
Readers watch videos while viewing your story
View stats in the Story Stats Panel

Video tracking is automatic for all Business plan members. When a reader plays a video:

The play is recorded anonymously
Playback continues with no interruption
Progress milestones are tracked (25%, 50%, 75%, complete)
The play count updates in real-time

Viewing Video Play Stats

Story Stats Panel

The fastest way to see video plays for a specific story:

Open a published story in the editor
Click Story Stats in the toolbar
View the Video Plays section

You’ll see:

Total play count across all videos
Individual video stats – each video with its play count
Completion rate – percentage who watched to the end
Video type – Cover, Native, YouTube, or Vimeo
Status indicator – Shows if a video was removed (stats preserved)

Understanding Video Labels

Videos in your stats are identified by human-readable labels:

Priority

Label Source

1st

Caption text from the photo group

2nd

Nearest heading before the video

3rd

Position-based (e.g., "Video 1", "Video 2")

4th

Platform default (e.g., "YouTube Video")

Preserved stats: If you remove a video from your story, its play statistics are kept with the original label so you don’t lose historical data.

Understanding Your Video Stats

Play Count

The total number of times a video has been played. Each unique viewing session counts as one play.

Deduplication: The same viewer watching multiple times within an hour counts as one play. This prevents accidental refreshes from inflating your stats.

Completion Rate

The percentage of plays that resulted in the viewer watching to the end:

Completion Rate = (Completions / Total Plays) × 100

A higher completion rate indicates your video content is engaging and the right length for your audience.

Note: Cover videos and looping videos don’t track completion since they loop continuously.

Progress Milestones

We track when viewers reach these points in your videos:

25% – Early engagement
50% – Halfway point
75% – Strong engagement
Complete – Watched to the end

Tips for Using Video Tracking

Optimize Your Content

Compare completion rates – Higher rates suggest better engagement
Test video lengths – See if shorter or longer videos perform better
Check cover video engagement – See if your hero video captures attention

Build Better Stories

Track product demos – See which products resonate with your audience
Monitor tutorial videos – Understand what educational content viewers want
Analyze embedded content – Compare YouTube vs. Vimeo performance

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does video tracking slow down my story? A: No. Tracking uses non-blocking requests that don’t affect video playback or page performance.

Q: Can I see who watched my videos? A: No. All video data is anonymous. You see aggregate counts, not individual viewer information.

Q: Does this work on mobile? A: Yes. Video tracking works on all devices and browsers.

Q: Why does my cover video require 3 seconds to count? A: Cover videos autoplay on page load. Requiring 3 seconds of watch time ensures we only count genuine engagement, not just page loads.

Q: Are YouTube and Vimeo embeds tracked automatically? A: Yes. All embedded YouTube and Vimeo videos are tracked automatically.

Q: What happens if I delete a video from my story? A: The play statistics are preserved with the original video label. The stats panel will show “Removed” next to deleted videos.

Plan Availability

Plan

Video Play Tracking

Free

❌ Not available

Pro

❌ Not available

Pro Plus

❌ Not available

Business

✅ Full access

Upgrade to Business to unlock Video Play Tracking and see exactly how readers engage with your video content.

Need Help?

If you have questions about Video Play Tracking, we’re here to help:

Email: hello@exposure.co

Last updated: January 2026

Need help?

Use the Exposure contact form.