Do you check your screen time after the day? In my case, Youtube has the highest portion of the whole screen time. I watch videos on YouTube when I have some time to relax, eat, or move around. Recently, I watch Shorts more than long videos. Shorts is less than a minute long, and we can see the next videos by swiping the Shorts feed. Youtube Shorts is the one of the biggest trends in the world. Like this, Youtube Shorts is now being watched by over 1.5 billion logged-in users every month, less than two years after its launch.
I wonder what Shorts is and why so many people watch and enjoy that. So, I have become a Shorts creator and produced some Shorts videos. This post aims to deal with both sides of shorts from the perspective of a ‘producer’ according to my experience of producing Shorts.
#Shorts Creator
Last year, I ran a YouTube channel while working as an intern in Korea. The channel uploads videos that help students study, and mainly produces and uploads playlists or study with me.
Then, Shorts appeared, and my team decided to diversify our channel’s contents so we produced and uploaded various short videos; summarize the playlist, stimulate the desire to study, and a reaction to college entrance.
Both sides of #Shorts
When it comes to positive side of Shorts, Shorts have a great ripple effect. Unlike long videos that are mainly viewed by searching terms, Shorts are floated on the Shorts feed by algorithms. If you use the title or hashtag of shorts well, Shorts are easy to reach the desired target. Therefore, the number of views also goes up rapidly.
Also, most viewers watch the Shorts until the end. Shorts are videos with a minimum of 15 seconds and a maximum of 1 minute. Because it’s not that long, once you click on the Shorts, most viewers watch the shorts until the end. (In fact, when we analyzed the data, we found these results!) So, Shorts are a great means of delivering contents to the targets. I also produced and uploaded shorts as a preview concept of the main video, and I was able to see the effect of promoting the main video by attaching the link to the main video in the comments.
Finally, shorts are easy to make. Despite of short running time, YouTube itself supports shorts production functions, and recently, various apps have been released for short form creators. Even if you don’t have professional equipment, you can easily produce and upload videos using your smart phone. Since the length is short, it takes less time to plan, and it can also reduce the burden of configuring the screen.
On the other hand, there definitely is other dark side of shorts. First of all, viewers who have entered Shorts do not easily come to the real subscribers. Because there are many people who watch videos on the short feed and just pass it over, no matter how high the short views were, it does not lead to subscribers.
Also, it is not easy to make a profit by just Shorts. Recently, more creators have opened and operated Shorts-only channels. But unlike long videos that advertisements attached to or profits are calculated by the number of views, Shorts themselves do not generate profits. No matter how many videos and views are made, it is difficult to make money unless long videos are produced. To improve this, YouTube announced a plan to monetize Shorts a few days ago.
Sum up
Nevertheless, Shorts are the very attractive content. The biggest advantage is that they can be made quickly and released quickly, and another advantage of Shorts is that contents can be easily spread to many people. If you use Shorts in a way that maximizes the strengths of them, you will be able to benefit much more from the investment!
Reference
How Tiktok algorithm works: https://searchengineland.com/how-tiktok-algorithm-works-390229
Youtube shorts guide: https://searchengineland.com/youtube-shorts-quick-content-get-noticed-385649
Tiktok’s monetization: https://www.uschamber.com/co/run/finance/monetizing-tiktok-channel
Youtube’s monetization: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2022/09/20/youtube-targets-tiktok-with-monetization-for-creators-short-videos/?sh=6347ca282406
I did not know that YouTube Shorts are that popular, but it would make sense. YouTube Shorts is now a qualified “bedlam go blip culture,” it is simply one of many quick-to-digest pieces of content that (at times) motivates people to research further on whatever topic presented by themselves. So, yes, it is of benefit for companies to find/refine their target audience. But then why specifically use YouTube Shorts and not platforms like TikTok? I understand why influencers would — it is a new niche, and the earlier you are on the “trend-train”, the more successful you can become. But I genuinely don’t see the appeal for companies simply because not many companies (be it small or big) have a YouTube account of their won.
I think Shorts has more wide range of targets. Majority of tictok users are Gen Z, but all generations use Youtube! Actually Shorts is developing more and more, so I just guess many companies will run Youtube channel as well (in fact, in Korea, many companies have their own channel!)