FYI, Tubefilter has a podcast.
It’s hosted by our very own Joshua Cohen (that’s me) and Lauren Schnipper. Subscribe to Creator Upload on Apple Podcasts. We’re everywhere else, too. Just go to CreatorUpload.com.
If you ask Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson or Google’s Senior Director of Product Management, Todd Beaupré (who may even know more about YouTube than Donaldson 😜) any questions about the algorithm, they’ll both respond with the same answer.
Replace the word algorithm with audience.
“Jimmy and/or Todd!! How do I make content the algorithm is going to like?” becomes a much more straightforward question when you change it to “Jimmy and/or Todd!! How do I make content my audience is going to like?” The rule of success on the platform isn’t to feed the algorithm, it’s to provide compelling content to your audience. (This still might be a hard question to answer, but it is more answerable.)
It turns out platforms need to follow the same rule.
YouTube first launched its Shorts platform in India in September 2020. It officially rolled it out in the U.S. a year later, in March 2021, before it was released worldwide in July 2021. On February 1, 2023, YouTube phased out its creator fund – which was compensating users for Shorts views – and implemented its Shorts revenue sharing program.
YouTube Shorts now sees over 50 billion views day, and creators are getting paid for their short-form content on YouTube. They’re not getting paid a lot – yet – but YouTube execs and hopeful industry professionals like to say it’s just getting started.
YouTube implemented Shorts for two main reasons:
The meteoric rise of TikTok – which now claims over 150 million monthly active users in the U.S. – crystal clearly showed audiences want short-form content. And YouTube wants to provide audiences what they want, too.
We get into following audiences and more in a fantastic interview with YouTube’s VP of the Americas Tara Walpert Levy on the latest Creator Upload podcast. Questions range from “Is Shorts cannibalizing long-form views?” to “Why is there no billboard in Times Square showing the billions YouTube has paid out to creators in real time?” to “Why the emphasis on shopping?” and everything in between. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or whenever you listen. You’re gonna dig it.
Welcome to Millionaires, where we profile creators who have recently crossed the one million follower…
TikTok's plan to challenge the new "divest-or-ban" law has encountered a setback. NetChoice, an advocacy group…
Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis are planning to tell the story of The Hunt For Gollum, but a…
After building an audience of more than 3.5 million viewers across YouTube and Twitch, Critical…
Jack Dorsey is breaking up with Bluesky. The co-founder of Twitter (now known as X) has abdicated his position on…
Recent reports have raised the alarm about the presence of "forever chemicals" like polyfluoroalkyl substances…