🎥 YouTube Shorts Launches in 100-Plus Countries
YouTube Shorts, the latest product of Video Streaming Giant- YouTube- rivals TikTok and has finally made its long-awaited global launch.
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What’s good, people?
Yesterday, Silicon Valley-based Tech Giant and Video Streaming platform YouTube globally launched YouTube Shorts, an attempt to tap into the surging popularity of short-form, shareable clips- a format responsible for fuelling TikTok’s massive growth.
How did this come out of nowhere?
The Google-owned $170 Billion platform initially launched YouTube Shorts in India in September 2020 and has since expanded the feature to 26 more countries, including the U.S. this spring.
Starting this week, it’s rolling out YouTube Shorts to more than 100 countries around the world where YouTube is available.
How has the response been so far?
Shorts generated 6.5 billion daily views in March 2021 alone, according to Google.
The global expansion promises to push that number even further, as YouTube still hasn’t talked about plans on inserting ads or introducing other monetization options for Shorts, something which seems obvious in the near future.
Traditionally known to be video creator-friendly and with strong network effects backing it, YouTube plans to leverage its existing base of 2.3 Billion Monthly Active Users and get them to start consuming and creating the short-form video content.
The best part?
In May it announced the YouTube Shorts Fund, promising to distribute $100 million to creators of the most engaging short clips, expected to kick off in the fall of 2021 and continue into 2022.
So how does the product compare to rivals such as TikTok and Instagram Reels? 🤔
Currently, YouTube Shorts allows users to record videos up to 60 seconds in length. TikTok recently announced it was expanding the max length of individual clips from 60 seconds to 3 minutes.
Like TikTok, YouTube Shorts provides features like a multi-segment camera 📸 to string multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music 🎧, and control speed settings ▶️
Creators also can add text to specific points in their video, sample audio from other Shorts to remix into their own clips, add clips from the phone’s camera roll, and add basic filters to color-correct videos.
I could go on here, but you guys get the point.
Check out YouTube’s official video explaining how it works 👇🏻
The platform’s geographic expansion follows the news in May that DIY distribution company TuneCore and its Paris-based parent Believe have partnered with YouTube to provide music for Shorts.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube Global Head of Music, said:
“YouTube has helped artists from all generations showcase their catalog of work for music fans around the world.
“YouTube Shorts is the next big frontier of a fast-growing platform that is centered on connecting artists and fans, around the love of music.
“I’m excited to watch the creativity of the YouTube community remix old favorites into new ones while discovering new music from artists they will undoubtedly end up loving.
![TuneCore on Twitter: "Exciting news for TuneCore artists - songs you have distributed to YouTube Music were just added to the YouTube Shorts music library🔊YouTube Shorts [Beta] is a new short form](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ae3c914-5ed9-4e3f-821e-d0e54cbf3b65_1200x1200.jpeg "TuneCore on Twitter: "Exciting news for TuneCore artists - songs you have distributed to YouTube Music were just added to the YouTube Shorts music library🔊YouTube Shorts [Beta] is a new short form")
YouTube is planning to make this really go toe-to-toe with TikTok and Instagram Reels, in a big to capture the creator economy’s slice.
But why is YouTube getting into this now?
TikTok is breathing down its neck, and how 😅 👇🏻
A fresh report published recently by analytics firm App Annie revealed that as of May 2021, TikTok surpassed YouTube in both the US and the UK for average time spent per user, per month on Android.
YouTube’s core video streaming product has revolutionized how the world consumes video content.
However, the rise of short-form content and resultant shrinkage of attention spans, especially among the younger generations, makes it obvious for YouTube to get a piece of this action.
Our take on this?
Big Tech is deep into a classic oligopoly market now.
What started out as fun tools to connect with friends and peers are now worth trillions of dollars collectively as a bunch of few companies, and have been etched into the daily lives of users, and pop culture in general.
These platforms have blown up in such proportions that Free Speech is now controlled and regulated by their terms, and someone such as the President of the United States being banned from communicating with his 50 Million plus audience on Twitter, only goes to show the control Big Tech can have over users.
So when it comes to YouTube launching Shorts to rival TikTok and Instagram, does it matter for creators?
Probably yes- competition only leads to the betterment of the product and more attractive tools to help them distribute and monetize their content.
For users, it remains yet another social media platform to choose from.
A rabbit hole of videos, swipes, and likes; curated by the algorithms for devoting their time and attention, like junkies craving their daily dose of dopamine 💉
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