YouTube Shorts - Things You Should Know

Since the launch of YouTube in 2005, its founders have learnt that the content shouldn’t be necessarily long to engage audiences. Looking at the huge success of TikTok and Instagram Reels, YouTube has rolled out a short form video feature on its platform called Shorts.

YouTube began its first round of testing in India from September, 2020. In its beta version the users were able to see and create 15 second videos with musical overlays. Even in its beta version the Shorts performed extremely well. In February 2021, Google CEO Sundar Pichai informed that the Shorts received 3.5 Billion views every day.

Shorts allows content creators and artists to create short, catchy videos using just their mobile phones.

What are YouTube Shorts?

It is a new type of video content by YouTube which is currently being beta tested in India. In June, 2020 India banned the popular TikTok, a short-form video content app which left a void in the Indian market for over 200 million TikTok users and YouTube was happy to fill this void by adding a new feature to its already successful video platform.

How to Create YouTube Shorts?

To start creating Shorts, users need to upload videos which satisfy the below 3 criterias:

• The video length should be 60 seconds or less
• The video must be shot vertically
• It should include the hashtag #Shorts either in the video’s description or title

When Shorts is available, users will be able to create them by going to the app and tapping on the “+” sign on the lower navigation bar and selecting the ‘Create a Short’ option. You can film a Short using both the front and back cameras on your phone.

What about Monetising the Shorts?

As of now, YouTube doesn’t allow to monetise the Shorts. However, this may change in future. YouTube doesn’t differentiate between monetised and non-monetised videos, so it won’t affect your organic reach.

Differentiating Factors between Shorts and its Competitors

Instagram reels and TikTok are the direct competitors for Shorts. But can Shorts provide better opportunities than them? We still don’t know that yet but we think it will be worth watching. Below are some of the reasons why we feel so.

1. YouTube Shorts can be less vulnerable compared to its competitors

Throughout 2020 TikTok was subjected to bans and censorship regulations. A marketer spends a lot of time on a social media app to master their content strategies but if a platform gets banned could mean that the content on which you worked so hard would not be seen by the audience.

However, YouTube is one of the oldest platforms and could be seen as more trustworthy to the governments across the world when compared with other apps which provide very less information about public data security information.

2. Short form Content Creators could see a bigger reach

YouTube will be launching the Shorts globally to more than 2 Billion active users on its platform which means you have a huge audience base for your content. Instead of thinking “Whether YouTube Shorts get awareness?”, you should ask “How can I benefit from YouTube Shorts with its huge audience?”

Brands can leverage Shorts

TikTok has a niche user base which consists of young consumers. Brands such as B2B companies might have a difficult time to create awareness on this platform. YouTube is not just popular among young people but it has such vast content that it appeals to users belonging to all sorts of age groups, industries, countries and niches.

YouTube has videos for everyone. Shorts will give brands an opportunity to engage with audiences from a wide range of audience targets. For example, brands might face difficulty connecting with Gen Z consumers on TikTok but would be able to connect with professionals looking for industry related content on Shorts.

Additionally, in the event if you target older generations, your short-form content on YouTube can get more engagement than TikTok.

Global roll out of Shorts

Currently the button to specifically create Shorts is only available in India but all users can start creating Shorts. Infact, YouTube users across the world are seeing short videos in their feed. YouTube calls this content region as ‘The Shorts Video Shelf’ and it pushes short videos in this region if the algorithm thinks that people are interested in such content.

How to create YouTube Shorts if without the access to the Shorts camera

Even if you don’t have access to the Shorts camera yet, you can still upload your existing vertical videos which are less than 60 seconds using the hashtag #Shorts in the title or description. YouTube is testing a new segment on its homepage to showcase videos which are created using the Shorts camera, as well as any vertical video less than 60 seconds which are uploaded to YouTube.

Therefore, you can start creating Shorts immediately even if you don’t have this service enabled on your device.