Google Drive has improved its video-watching experience over the years. The search giant is now rolling out another feature that lets you measure the engagement of the videos uploaded to Google Drive.
Google announced in a blog post that it has updated the 'Details' panel in the video player, which now features a new 'Analytics' section to display the total number of times a video is played. The company noted that video analytics in Google Drive was a highly requested feature that "will help users understand if viewers are engaging with their videos."
Google Drive is the home-grown cloud storage service offered by Google since 2012. It was launched with 5 GB free space per account, which was later increased to 15 GB (shared across Google services). The service has supported video playback from the start and was updated last year with a modern look and automatic captions.
To see the view count or 'opens' for a video, open it in Google Drive > click on the three-dot menu > Details. Here you'll find the number listed under the Analytics section. The feature has started rolling out to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.
One thing to note is that the analytics counter displays views for both the file owner and others. So, even if your video file is not shared with others, it will keep counting your repeated views.
Google stated that the feature will take from one to three days to appear in users' Google Drives, noting that there is no admin control for this feature. Speaking of current times, the feature is one of those rare instances where the word "AI" is not included in a Google announcement.
The search giant recently updated Google Drive with several Gemini-powered features, such as nudges for quick access to features, improved folder interactions, and the ability to talk about specific files in the side panel.
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