Post Lifecycle

Every tracked post follows the same path. Posts from TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts all use it.

Live -> Ready to pay -> Paid
     -> Needs a price -> Ready to pay -> Paid
     -> Held for review -> Ready to pay -> Paid
     -> Complete
     -> Rejected

Two settings that shape it

Both are in the campaign's Settings → Post rules.

• Counting window. Views count for this many days after a post goes live. After that, the post's amount is final. The default is 7 days.
• Auto-reject. Posts under this many views at the end of the counting window are rejected. The default is 1,000 views.

A creator's offer can override both: open Edit offer, then Rules and Discord, and set Minimum views and Counting window (days) for that creator. A per-post offer saves its own minimum and window on each post.

Statuses

Live

A post is Live while its counting window is open. ViewsBase refreshes its views on your plan's schedule: every 24 hours on Starter, every 12 on Growth and every 6 on Scale and Agency. YouTube Shorts refresh once a day on every plan.

On Scale and up you can fetch fresh views for one Live post at once. Open the post's More menu or its details and choose Refresh now. You can refresh a post once every 10 minutes, and a workspace has a daily limit. On other plans the item is visible and says Refresh now comes with Scale and up.

Needs a price

When the window ends, a post whose rate is not set yet becomes Needs a price. Choose Set price on the post, or work through the Needs you list one post at a time. Pick the rate tier or enter the rate and cap. The post then becomes Ready to pay. See Payment Engine.

If the campaign asks for analytics proof, a post can show Waiting on creator after you send the request.

Held for review

The views spike check flagged the post: its views jumped without the comments and shares to match. The post is not paid until you check it. See Views spike hold.

Ready to pay

The post has a frozen final view count and an amount. Later views do not change the amount.

Paid

You paid the creator and marked the post paid. See Payment Engine. A paid post is locked.

Complete

The post is final and nothing is owed. This happens for a No CPM ($0) offer and for a per-post award of $0.

Rejected

A rejected post is out of earnings, payments and campaign totals. Reject a post yourself from its More menu with a reason, for example off-brand content or a duplicate. Choose Restore post to bring it back. A restored post returns to Live while its window is open. After the window it returns to Needs a price or Ready to pay.

What happens when the window ends

On the next scheduled check after the window ends, ViewsBase fetches the final views and closes the post. That check is the same on every plan, so the amount is set within about 6 hours. YouTube Shorts follow their once-a-day check.

• A successful fetch closes the post. If its rate is set, it becomes Ready to pay. If the rate is missing, it becomes Needs a price.
• A failed fetch leaves the post open and shows Refresh failed. It does not close on old views. Choose Retry view update in the post's details, or enter the views by hand.
• No views from the platform, as with some Instagram carousels, shows Needs views. Choose Enter views and add a note. The note is saved as an audit line.
• Below the minimum views. The post is auto-rejected.

Finalize early

For one post, choose Finalize early from its More menu. It freezes the current views before the window ends. A per-post offer cannot be finalized early. Its saved window must close first.

To close a whole campaign, a campaign admin turns Campaign active off. This stops new posts. Then choose Finalize live posts. ViewsBase fetches fresh views for posts created before the pause, retries failed fetches and shows progress. A post whose views cannot be fetched stays Live, and you can choose Retry failed posts. Finalizing cannot reopen a counting window. Restarting the campaign opens new posts but does not reopen closed ones.

Checks for fake views

Four checks help you spot posts that do not deserve payment:

1. Minimum views. Auto-reject removes posts under the minimum at the end of the window.
2. Views spike hold. It holds posts whose views look fake until you check them. See Views spike hold.
3. Analytics proof. For offers whose rate depends on audience, a creator uploads a screen recording of their analytics. See below.
4. Bad post detector. It checks new TikTok posts that creators submit through Discord. See Discord Bot.

Views spike hold

The setting is Settings → Post rules → Hold views spikes for review. It is on for new campaigns. A campaign made before October 2026 keeps the setting it had.

• When a post is flagged. A single check adds 20,000 or more views while new comments and shares stay under 0.5%, or under half the post's earlier rate. The check starts after 10,000 views. Likes do not count. A post is flagged once.
• What the hold does. A flagged post is not ready to pay. It is not in Can pay now, in payout files, in payment requests or in the creator's ready money. Mark paid, Mark these as paid after a file, and a Discord Mark paid button refuse it and say why. When its window closes, the post shows Held for review. The creator sees In review.
• Where you decide. Held posts are in Needs you, on the post row and in the post's details. Choose Approve when the views look real. The post then counts as usual and is Ready to pay when its window is closed. Choose Reject to reject the post with the reason "Views spike". If you restore a post that you rejected for a views spike, it is held again. A final per-post award cannot be rejected, so you can only approve it.
• Paid posts. A post that was paid before it was flagged stays paid. The hold never changes a payment.

Both decisions are in the activity log.

Analytics proof

Analytics proof is for rate tiers that depend on the audience, such as the share of US viewers.

1. Send a request from a post's More → Request analytics, or turn on Settings → Analytics from creators → Request analytics automatically. With the automatic switch, the creator is asked when the counting window ends. Days to respond sets how long the upload link works.
2. The creator gets a link by Discord or email. It opens a mobile page that explains how to record their analytics and accepts one recording. No sign-in is needed.
3. ViewsBase reads the recording. If Apply verified tiers automatically is on and the reading is confident and matches a tier, that tier is applied. Otherwise the recording waits under Analytics to verify in Needs you. Each recording sits next to its post. Enter approves and F flags fraud.
4. A flagged recording asks the creator to send a new one. The same link works again.

You can override an applied tier at any time.

Platforms

Watched accounts are optional. Choose Watch account on a creator to find new posts automatically. They are checked about every 6 hours, and YouTube channels once a day. When you watch an account you choose how many recent posts to import: none, or the last 5, 10, 15 or 30. See Tracking & Intelligence.