Most available information about YT is derived from experiments on videos with views <301, at which point YT starts looking for bots! The info here is consensus info.
There is currently no known way to beat YouTube's alogorithm to quickly escalate views. If you can find a way, you can become rich very quickly!
Youtube defines a view as "A viewer initiated intentional play of a video." However, the only ways that YT can track users are by external IP & YT account. But stay logged in!
Playlists do count & are a great way to stream if you are busy at school or work, or when you are asleep! They simply take more time for the views to accumulate.
See "How to Not Be a Bot for the best guesses at how YT tracks views.
