Following In Suit Of TikTok And Instagram, Last Year Youtube Rolled Out ‘Youtube Shorts’. But Are They Actually Performing?
Within this blog, we want to give a bit of background to Youtube’s newest venture.
What are shorts?
Shorts are bite-sized videos available to be created and viewed by all users. They can run for a maximum of 60 seconds and are able to be edited in-app. Viewers are able to interact in the same way that they do in traditional youtube videos by liking commenting etc. The videos are available in a feed similar to Reels and TikTok called ‘Shorts Shelf’ or users can search up popular hashtags. Users are also able to add music to these shorts but only songs from the Shorts library.
Why would people use shorts?
- Unlike traditional youtube videos, shorts are easily filmed on a phone and require little editing.
- Shorts are able to give users a bitesize indication of your content to potential subscribers
- Youtube shorts count towards interactions on an account which will affect how your channel performs
How does monetization work with Shorts?
Originally the only monetization available to creators was the ‘Youtube Shorts fund’ which can be given out to the top creators. This fund developed slowly to accommodate more creators. Although this is now changing with google confirming that they will be running ads between the shorts.
How do Shorts differ from other short-form video content?
- The reach from the app is a lot larger than other sites
- Brands can grow on a site which is familiar to them
- Facebook doesn’t have as many threats of censorship as other newly established sites
- The content is available for users to view permanently rather than disappearing after 24 hours
Have they actually been successful?
With a market now increasingly saturated with short-form video content is surprising to say but Google has announced that youtube shorts are now gaining over 30 billion daily views. This has been a significant increase from earlier in the year.
This increase in attention will mean that Youtube will have to put effort into ensuring that monetization for shorts is in place to maximize earning potential for creators. If this is put in place this will solidify shorts as a genuine revenue source for creators who may have previously been displeased by the shifting incentives coming from the company.
With short-form video content taking over we had our doubts about the survival of youtube as a lead social media entity but it seems they are really stepping up to the plate and solidifying themselves as a continually developing platform.
Finally, for our previous #SocialShort, click here.
