YouTube Shorts Explained
To get the best results from YouTube Shorts you need to understand what they are and why they are available. In the next chapter, we will discuss the benefits of creating and uploading YouTube Shorts but here we want to ensure that you fully understand what they are.
Competition from Tik Tok and Instagram Reels
YouTube was facing strong competition from both Tik Tok and Instagram Reels. The growth of Tik Tok has been significant since its launch in 2018. At the time of writing this guide, Tik Tok receives more than 1.7 billion visitors a month and it is very popular with young people.
Tik Tok is a fan favorite because the videos posted on the platform are short and created using smartphones. So, YouTube decided to launch its “Shorts” app back in September 2020 to compete. They first tested the app in India and it was a success. YouTube Shorts in India was receiving around 3.5 billion views each day less than 6 months after launch.
YouTube Shorts was rolled out to the United States in March 2021. This helped the platform to garner more than 6.5 billion views a day. The feature was made available across the world to around 100 countries in July 2021. It is now available to anyone in the world through the use of the YouTube app.
Short Length Videos
You can create a YouTube Short video up to one minute in length. A lot of creators choose to create Shorts of just 15 seconds as these are very popular. The YouTube app allows you to select the time of your recording in 15-second chunks up to 60 seconds. If you want to add background music from the YouTube audio library then the Short can only be 15 seconds long.
YouTube Shorts App Available for Apple iOS and Android Devices
You can download the YouTube app which contains the YouTube Shorts features for an Apple iOS smartphone such as the iPhone from the Apple Apps Store. If you have an Android smartphone then the YouTube app is available from the Google Play Store.
YouTube Shorts has Special Features
There are some special features in the YouTube app for the creation of Shorts videos. We will discuss how you can get more views to your YouTube Shorts in a later chapter, but you want to make your Shorts videos as entertaining as possible. Here are the special features you can use within the app: • Stringing several video clips together with the “multi-segment camera • Add text to your Shorts • Control the speed of your clips with speed controls • Record your Shorts with music from the continually expanding audio library • Sample audio from other Shorts videos for remixing • Handsfree recording using the built-in timer and countdown feature
More features for YouTube Shorts are likely to become available as the platform grows. YouTube is closely monitoring the performance of Shorts and the signs are good so far. They want to provide the best features for creators to make the most engaging Shorts videos.
The YouTube Shorts Fund
YouTube is determined to see its Shorts platform succeed and they have created a YouTube Shorts Fund of $100 million. This was first introduced in 2021 and the fund will be available to eligible creators until the end of 2022. There is always the possibility that this will be extended beyond 2022.
In the first few months of launching the YouTube Shorts Fund, the company has paid thousands to creators. A YouTube Shorts creator can receive anything from $100 to $10,000 from the fund to help them to create more engaging Shorts videos. Anyone is eligible to receive a bonus from the fund but they must meet the following criteria:
• You need a YouTube channel with at least one eligible short over the previous 180 days • In the United States, creators must be a minimum of 13 years old. Those younger than 18 must have a parent agree to the terms and conditions • In other countries, creators must be of the age of majority • Creators must reside in an eligible country • Shorts from other social media platforms, unedited TV or movie clips, clips from other people’s channels, and other non-original content will not be eligible • Creators have to comply with the community guidelines, copyright rules, and monetization policies of YouTube.
The performance of your YouTube Shorts channel is monitored monthly by YouTube, and if you are eligible for a bonus from the YouTube Shorts Fund, they will notify you and tell you how to claim it. You will receive a notification and an email.
You can expect YouTube to experiment with the YouTube Shorts Fund and make changes fairly often. As the company wants the YouTube Shorts platform to grow, they are likely to increase the limits of its bonus payments to encourage creators to do more.
They are already making exceptions with payments exceeding $10,000 for top creators. YouTube Shorts Creators are Growing in numbers
In the last 12 months, around 625,000 YouTube accounts have created more than 10 million YouTube Shorts according to research from Tubular Labs. This is very encouraging as businesses start to see the marketing opportunities that YouTube Shorts have to offer.
Several businesses have already started to use YouTube Shorts to their advantage. Examples of the Shorts they have created include informing their audience about new product launches, promotion of digital marketing agencies, promoting TV shows and movies, and more.
YouTube Shorts is likely to Get a lot Bigger
In its short time since launch, the YouTube Shorts platform has grown in size significantly. We believe that the platform will get a lot bigger in the next few years. One of the reasons that YouTube Shorts are so popular is because they are “short”. People will always prefer to watch a shorter video that contains the same message as a longer one.
In the next chapter, we will discuss the benefits of creating YouTube Shorts…
To your Success,
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