YouTube Shorts: TikTok Rival Launches Beta in US

Video Trends

by Larissa MoriMarch 20^th, 2021

Following in the footsteps of Instagram Reels, last September Google announced it was building its own TikTok rival: YouTube Shorts. Now, the company is rolling out its “short-form video experience” to US YouTubers for the first time as a beta.

This introduction to the US follows several months of beta testing in India – which saw adoption of the YouTube Shorts service triple.

According to the blog post about the YouTube announcement from Product Lead Todd Sherman, the Shorts player now has more than 6.5 billion daily views globally, too.

That’s hardly surprising considering that even at launch, the YouTube Shorts team boasts deals with more than 250 music labels including Universal, Sony, and Warner – so users already have millions of different songs to choose from for their clips.

The company is also taking a fresh look at what it means to monetize Shorts, and reward creators for their videos.

“With our Shorts beta in India, we had foundational creation tools, like a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music, control speed settings, and more. And today we’re adding more features, like the ability to add text to specific points in your video. You’ll also be able to sample audio from other Shorts so you can remix it into your own creation,” said Sherman.

“In the coming months, we’ll launch the ability to use audio from videos across YouTube – which includes billions of videos worldwide – unlocking a new playground of creativity like never before. This means you can give your own creative spin on the content you love to watch on YouTube and help find it a new audience — whether it’s reacting to your favorite jokes, trying your hand at a creator’s latest recipe, or re-enacting comedic skits. Creators will be in control and will be able to opt out if they don’t want their long form video remixed.”

Interestingly, on the same day as YouTube’s announcement, Twitter also shared that it was testing a way for users to watch YouTube videos directly in the Home timeline, without leaving Twitter.

Feature image: Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash

What do you think about YouTube Shorts? Will you look into using the service for self-promotion, or become an original content creator once it’s out of beta? Let us know in the comments section below.