YouTube Shorts: Another Short Video Platform? Think Bigger

Couple of years ago, YouTube launched a short-form video creation tool — YouTube Shorts. Let's see how you can benefit from them in 2024!

Shorts has been in beta in India since September of 2020, and arrived in the United States in March 2021. But the tool had quickly become a powerful TikTok competitor and it would be quite a setback to miss out on this opportunity. One year after it started, YouTube had 30 billion daily views. Now, it has over 70 billion daily views as of October 2023. Now, creators from all over the world can use this feature. 

In 2023, YouTube started monetizing shorts. You can learn more about monetization rules and how to earn on Shorts in this article.

What are YouTube Shorts?

Shorts are vertical videos up to 15 seconds in length with the option to string multiple clips to create videos up to 60 seconds long. This is an alternative platform experience for creators and their audiences and a much easier way to create on YouTube.The days of switching from YouTube to another platform to create short videos with nothing else but your phone are coming to an end.

YouTube Shorts Report

To stay on the top of the game and to encourage creators to use the tool to its fullest capacity, YouTube has introduced the bi-weekly Shorts Report. Each edition is a source of inspiration, product updates, and helpful tips to support authors on their creation journey with the new tool.
The last report is dedicated to science education content, helpful strategies for getting started on Shorts, and how to discover similar Shorts and sounds with pivot pages.

Source: YouTube Shorts Report.

Another Short Video Platform? Think Bigger.

There’s a huge advantage to creating short videos on YouTube, especially for new creators on the platform. Short videos can generate subscribers and views without requiring as much effort and financial resources as regular YouTube videos. In 2023, creators showed that Shorts attracts more viewers to main content. Let's see our partners' success:

1. MacDannyGun gained 670K new subs in just 5 months, hitting 1.75M total, boosting main content views tenfold.
2. Watch Me: 1B views from Shorts in 4 months since their first upload!

The key is to stay creative and experiment with different YouTube Shorts formats for success. For support with setting up the right YouTube Shorts strategy and correct optimization, contact our experts here.

How do YouTube Shorts Work? Make Yourself Known

Shorts can become a powerful tool in making your content known to users. People enjoy watching short content and swipe through a range of videos to choose what they like. Taking that into account, YouTube Shorts can help you in a three main ways:

1. Tease Your Main Content: Use Shorts as a sneak peek to entice viewers to watch your longer videos.
2. Enhance Recommendations: Shorts elevate your visibility in YouTube recommendations, amplifying your reach.
3. Drive Subscriptions: Engage viewers with Shorts to convert them into dedicated subscribers.
4. YouTube Shorts has a track record of success, delivering numerous new subscribers and billions of views for our partners. It's not guesswork; it's effective.

We've learned a lot about YouTube Shorts by working with thousands of creators. Contact us to get these insights straight from us.

How to Create YouTube Shorts

All you need is a smartphone and the Shorts camera in the YouTube app to create Shorts. You can add Shorts from both: your phone and laptop. Here is a quick guide on how to add video to YouTube Shorts:

1. Open YouTube Studio on your computer.
2. Click "Create" and choose "Short".
3. Upload a video (under 60 seconds) or record a new one directly.
4. Edit your Short with fun effects, text, and music.
5. Write a catchy title and a short description to grab attention.
6. Set it to "Public" so everyone can see your creation.
7. Add relevant hashtags to help people find your Short.
8. Click "Publish" and share your Short with the world!
9. See how it's doing with YouTube Analytics.

We recently created a list of 17 tips to help your YouTube Shorts go viral. Check out the article for more details. 

YouTube Shorts include several creative features you can use. Here are some of them:

• Music & Sound. You can select parts of tracks you want to use from the Shorts catalog or sounds from other eligible Shorts to create your video. Creators have an option to refuse to let their audios be used by other authors.
• Text & Timeline. You can add text to your video and control when it appears and disappears using the Timeline feature.
• Speed. This feature allows you to set the speed of your Shorts by accelerating or slowing down the recording.
• Timer and Countdown. The timer lets you record hands-free and set the beginning and ending of the recording. YouTube is working on more features that we can expect in the next few months.

How to Use YouTube Shorts? YouTube Recommended Strategies

YouTube itself is encouraging creators to use their Shorts feature and gives some advice on the topic. Here are some main takeaways:

• Trends. Creating relevant content in response to trends and events or what people experience at this specific time period will help you win more audiences.
• Spend just the right amount of effort. Shorts is the easier, less energy consuming way of creating. Use it to your advantage and don’t spend too much time on creating a perfect video of the highest standard.
• Instead of focusing on a perfect picture, work on engaging, useful, or entertaining 15-second videos that your viewers will enjoy and might even go back to re-watch.

Try to combine these tips with our 17 hacks for YouTube Shorts and see how much new subs and revenue it can give you.

Why Creators Should Use Shorts

The creation process of long YouTube videos intimidates some creators. For this reason many authors turned to other platforms where they have a chance to express themselves in a less energy consuming way. But things have changed for creators on YouTube. Shorts offers an easier way to create videos with top-notch advantages in place. This tool can generate subscribers and views and help users find creators’ other content. AIR Media-Tech is ready to share all the insights we got about YouTube Shorts during the last years. Just drop us a line and get all the information first hand.