- Implemented:

Added view_count database migration/defaults and shared helpers in 
[includes/db.php](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/includes/db.php).
Public player and embed.php now increment views.
Homepage and catalogue can display per-video views, total views, and 
public stats based on admin settings.
Added Admin → Settings toggles for public view/stat display.
Added Admin → Upkeeping action to restore external view counts from 
readable provider pages, with YouTube scraping support first.
Added manual per-video view-count editing in 
[admin/edit.php](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/admin/edit.php) 
for older local uploads or corrections.
Updated 
[README.md](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/README.md) 
with the new behavior.

embed.php

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ require_once __DIR__ . '/includes/db.php';
 
 $slug  = trim($_GET['v'] ?? '');
 $video = $slug ? get_video_by_slug($slug) : null;
+if ($video) {
+    $video['view_count'] = increment_video_view_count((int)$video['id']);
+}
 
 // Determine absolute base URL for media files.
 // We need absolute URLs here because the embed lives on a foreign domain.