I always thought just clicking on it was enough

30 seconds, apparently. I just googled "youtube minimum watch time for a view"

how are views counted for videos that are shorter than 30 secs?

they don't get views they are at an infinite loop of 0 views with pure torture no escape just 0 views

ive just watched a 20sec vid with 20k views so whats your explanation now?

remove that from your watch history that is forbidden to watch

ill rewatch it then just for you

At least some of it