Viewed vs swiped away

Studio reports this for Shorts, and it does the job click-through rate does for a thumbnail: of the people the Short was put in front of, how many stayed rather than flicking on. It moves almost entirely on the first second or two.

Retention signals like this one carry more consistent weight in Shorts recommendations than likes, comments and shares, because every Short produces a watch signal while only some collect interactions. A high figure is no promise of reach. It says the hook worked on the people who saw it, and nothing about how many people that was.