What YouTube have learned after a year of YouTube Shorts
Image Credit: SeanDoesMagic, Dental Digest, Jake Fellman
YouTube launched Shorts, their TikTok rival, one year ago. Here’s what the video streaming service has learned from short-form video so far.
YouTube Shorts is the platform’s latest feature, a feed of vertically scrolled, endless videos under one minute. The early beta launched one year ago in India and is now in over 100 countries, pulling in over 15 billion views per day. YouTube Shorts’s product lead Todd Sherman has shared key insights and spotlighted some communities that are growing on Shorts.
“Creators getting started – and ones to watch“
YouTube Shorts has brought in a new wave of mobile-first creators. Since September 2020 to September 2021, the average number of daily first time creators has more than doubled. Supporting these creators, YouTube has expanded the Shorts Fund into 30+ more countries globally, to start rewarding creators for delighting the community with Shorts.
YouTube have highlighted five creators making an impact across Shorts to keep an eye on:
“DankScole isn’t afraid to find humor in life, with family, relationships and more. After she started uploading content to Shorts in February, her channel grew by more than one million subscribers and 300 million views in just one month. Her fun, comical Shorts have only continued to charm fans as she keeps growing her channel.”
“Nineteen-year-old college student Katie Feeney continues to shine with Shorts that people of all ages can relate to. From dorm life and studying to lifestyle tips, Katie’s Shorts are giving people something to smile about. It’s no surprise she’s generated more than 1.2 billion views since March!”
“A lawyer turned creator, The Korean Vegan impresses us daily with her Shorts that show off delicious Korean vegan eats. In 60 seconds or less, she tackles health and wellness topics, while cooking some must-try recipes.”
“Dushyant Kukreja has gained popularity for his fun, comedic Shorts that provide his audience with some light reprieve, consistently landing him on YouTube’s trending tabs. Known for his conceptual life stories on Shorts, Dushyant today has more than 4M subscribers.”
“Brazilian creator Léo Léo started posting Shorts in 2021, and since January has gained more than 1 billion views, plus has landed on the trending tab in Brazil, too. His goal is to bring smiles and fun to the world with his comedy videos about daily life.”
“A place for any and every community starting to take off“
In the same piece celebrating a year of Shorts, YouTube highlighted three communties making an impact on the platform.
Magic
First up, YouTube says magic is having a moment on Shorts. Whether its magicians showing off their latest tricks or demonstrating the slight of hand behind the illusion, magicians creating short-form videos can experiment with editing, narrative and grabbing people’s attention.
Dental lifestyle
Sometime the most mundane daily activies can lead to passionate communties on YouTube. This is what YouTube are currently seeing with dental content on the platform. Creators looking to make the topic fun and relatable for everyone with their unique humor and personalized touch, are finding audiences captivated by all sorts of videos such as toothbrush demonstrations, informational videos, the ins and outs of dentistry, and putting silly dental products to the test.
Minecraft animators
Gaming content has always been popular on YouTube, now many creators are experimenting with Shorts too, with videos of fun narratives, popular trends or detailed renderings of animated Minecraft gaining traction.
“Music grows and BTS inspired“
At the core of YouTube Shorts as a whole is of course music. Artists and fans are creating trends and connecting all over the world thanks to the millions of songs available on YouTube Shorts. Earlier in the year, YouTube partnered with global pop icons BTS for their Permission to Dance Challenge, encouraging people around the world to recreate dance moves from their music video with their own style.
“Early learnings as we build YouTube Shorts from the ground up”
As YouTube continue to build Shorts, they say they are focused on three key areas:
Building a creation experience that empowers anyone to create and find an audience; refining our viewer experience to make sure we’re helping people find Shorts that they’ll love and discover new creators; and determining more ways we can reward creators for the Shorts they make that delight the YouTube community.
The images below illustrate what YouTube have learned so far for creators, viewers and monetization.
