Question: How do we find accurate attenance numbers?
Answer: Amid the latest recommendations that have emerged in response to COVID-19, a record number of churches are using live-streaming for online worship. If you have been live-streaming worship services for a while, continue counting online/live stream worship attendance the same way you have been. If you are just starting to use live-streaming and are unsure about how to count online worship attendance metrics, here is what we recommend for Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms:

•  Facebook Live: Use "1-Minute Video Views" as the number for metrics reporting
• YouTube: List the number of nique views. View an illustration here. 
• Vimeo: List views over a 7-10 day period. 
• Other Streaming Services: Unique IP addresses or peak viewers.
• Multiplier: As often households watch the service together, you may need to multiply the views/viewers by a number to account for this. Multiply by 1.5 if your normal physical attendance is comprised of mainly couples and singles. Multiply by 2 if at least 1/3 of your attendance is comprised of families with children. If you have good reason to use a different multiplier (e.g. a singles church should probably multiply by 1), feel free.
• TV or Radio Services: Contact your local station and ask about estimated audience size. Don’t use a multiplier in this case. This may also be recorded under online attendance.
• Be sure to wait at least 24 hours after the video is published to count the number of views the video received. Here are instructions for finding viewer counts for Facebook and YouTube.