YouTube has invested considerable resources in Shorts, its vertical video format that resembles TikTok. Despite the platform’s priorities, YouTube’s long-form library is drawing more attention from its user base. Recent research found that the average U.S. YouTube viewer now spends 8% more time watching long-form videos compared to October 2023.
That data point comes from Digital i, a British software company that queried American YouTube users over the age of 18 regarding their consumption habits. The survey found that the long-form uptick was accompanied by a slight downturn in short-form viewership. Digital i’s respondents now spend 73% of their YouTube watch time enjoying videos that are more than 30 minutes long. All other videos — including Shorts — shared the other 27%.
These findings are a marked departure from previous viewership trends involving YouTube Shorts. As the platform invited more creators into its Shorts monetization program, observers speculated that the increasing emphasis on TikTok-style content could cannibalize traffic that previously went to long-form videos. Digital i’s research suggests that YouTubers can benefit from spreading themselves across multiple formats, an approach that YouTube has championed for years.
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On its face, Digital i’s report makes no distinction between traditional long-form uploads and 30-minute-plus videos that are either live streams or VOD versions of those streams. YouTube has bulked up its streaming operation with a particular focus on the mobile-oriented live broadcasts that Gen Z watches in significant numbers. Over Digital i’s year-long measurement period, its 18-to-24-year-old respondents increased their consumption of long-form content on mobile devices. That figure went up 21% year-over-year.
As with so many studies related to creator content, the results of this research should be taken with a grain of salt. Digital i’s focus on watch time inherently favors long-form content, and Shorts is still growing, even if long-form videos are potentially growing faster.
The rising popularity of long-form YouTube videos may be less pronounced than Digital i makes it out to be, but even if the effect is smaller than what’s demonstrated here, the results are still noteworthy. YouTube Shorts doesn’t seem to be cannibalizing long-form traffic (at least in the U.S.), and the original YouTube format remains the platform’s bread-and-butter.
