While much of YouTube keeps it short, sports creators are going long

The story of YouTube in the 2020s has been the story of Shorts. Since the TikTok-like format was unveiled in 2020, it has become a dominant force in our weekly viewership charts while outearning YouTube’s long-form library. Viewers now watch long-form videos like Shorts, and some observers have even wondered whether Shorts will cause YouTube’s original format to die out.

But long-form videos aren’t dying out. They’re thriving — you just need to know where to look. Ben Grubbs, a former YouTube exec who co-manages Creator Sports Capital, recently published research that dives into some of YouTube’s top sports channels. Grubbs’ takeaway is clear: Channels like Good Good are not only keeping long-form alive, but are turning the format into the foundation of a reliable business model.

Let’s start with the basics: Good Good videos are really long. The golf creator crew has published entire series in which all the videos are at least one hour long. Grubbs pegs the average runtime of a Good Good upload at 84 minutes. The golfer Grant Horvat, who came up alongside the Good Good gang, has uploaded YouTube videos that are nearly five hours long — and those uploads routinely bring in millions of views.

These long-form videos pay off in several ways. They are tailor-made for consumption on TV screens, where YouTube is steadily levelling up its product

. Per Grubbs, 61% of Good Good watch time comes on TVs. That engagement is high-quality, too. The average Good Good TV viewer watches for nearly twice as long as the average viewer on any other screen, and as median video length increases, so does average view duration.

Good Good is then able to convert that attention to revenue. Grubbs claims that “effectively all advertising monetization” on Good Good comes from long-form content. And the crew was able to translate its long-form approach to TV, where it has received programming opportunities on the Golf Channel.

“Over the past eighteen months, incumbent television and streaming companies have begun paying for creator long-form in three escalating forms,” Grubbs wrote. “Licensing the libraries, commissioning the originals, and now co-producing their own franchises with creator companies.”

Long-form works so well for sports channels because it fits neatly with consumer habits. A sport like golf is designed to deliver prolonged watch time, and we’ve seen that trend play out across the streaming landscape. Peacock’s broadcasts for the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, for example, delivered a surge of attention that even rivaled YouTube.

So as long as creators can swing a club or kick a ball, long-form content will still have its place on YouTube. There’s much more to dig into within Grubbs’ report. If you’re curious, you can find it right here.