Actually, watched minutes and average watch time plays a bigger role then views. It all your videos are 30 secondS long, you make almost nothing regardless of how many views you get. If you have hour long videos, but people only watch the first 30 seconds and leave, you still will not earn anything no matter how many views.
At the end of the day, the algorithm to calculate your earnings is so complex, that no one truly understands it. Right now nothing is making any sense to anyone and we all feel like we have been told get ready to be violated.