YouTube Shorts is going global.
The TikTok competitor will soon roll out to all the regions where YouTube main is currently available. That will put it live in more than 100 countries.
Shorts debuted in India in September 2020, and introduced a beta version in the U.S. earlier this year. Since then, YouTube has expanded it to more than 26 countries (although, to be clear, we mean YouTube gave people in 26 countries the ability to use Shorts’ content creation tools; anyone with access to YouTube can watch Shorts videos).
YouTube says Shorts will remain in beta in all countries. It plans to add more features, and is eyeing monetization for creators beyond the $100 million fund it launched in May.
“Shorts is a new way to watch and create on YouTube, so we’ve been taking a fresh look at what it means to monetize Shorts and reward creators for their content,” it says. “We are deeply committed to supporting the next generation of mobile creators with Shorts, and are actively working on what monetization options will look like in the future.”
It’s not surprising that YouTube is eyeing Shorts monetization, because the platform is helping some creators generate hundreds upon hundreds of millions of views per month–the kind of traffic that would generate significant revenue on YouTube main, but not (or, at least, not yet) on Shorts.
Tubefilter has profiled numerous YouTubers for whom Shorts has been the driving force behind their channel growth, and over the past couple of months, we’ve seen Shorts-focused creators hold regular positions in our Top 100 charts (meaning they’re among the top 100 most-viewed channels globally, across the entire site).
YouTube also notes that, in addition to expanding access to Shorts and investigating monetization, it has added features to help viewers discover Shorts content. Namely, it introduced a Shorts-specific row on desktop YouTube’s homepage, and plans to add a new Shorts tab on mobile “soon,” it says.
“We’re also exploring how to deepen your connection with Shorts content, creators, and artists you’re most interested in by integrating it with the YouTube you already know and love,” the platform adds. “For instance, if you hear a snippet of a song on Shorts, you can easily find the full song, watch the music video, or learn more about the artist–all on YouTube.”
It also notes that it now lets creators repurpose audio from existing videos on YouTube main, and says it’s working to keep a broad library of licensed songs available for creators’ use (something TikTok has notoriously struggled with).
YouTube says creators in all 100+ countries can expect access to Shorts within the coming days.
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