TikTok has really revolutionized the short-form video format on social media with rivals like Instagram and YouTube launching their own versions – Reels and Shorts respectively.
In a drive to push engagement and discovery, YouTube rolled out a test to a small group of people worldwide that ensured that when you launch the YouTube app, it defaulted to going straight to the Shorts tab instead of the normal Home tab especially if you were previously watching Shorts videos before you exited the app.
This meant that you go back to watching Shorts when you return to the app instead of YouTube switching to the Home tab.
This test was on iOS only for some global users.
This test will now be rolling out to Android users across the world.
To entice creators to make use of Shorts, the giant video hosting site introduced a $100 million YouTube Shorts Fund to pay creators between $100 and $10,000. TikTok and Instagram also have their own creator funds.
It seems this method isn’t working for YouTube and this could be why the giant social platform is pivoting to be more aggressive.
It’s worth noting that YouTube Shorts has been doing well on its own – the platform now has over 15 billion daily views as of Q2 compared to 6.5 billion users in Q1. The growth could be attributed to Shorts being available in more countries.
It is unknown when these tests will run for how long.
If this becomes the new way to enjoy content on the app – a lot of people will stick to watching YouTube on the web – nobody is opening YouTube to watch Shorts when TikTok exists.
