Google LLC has launched its TikTok rival YouTube – Shorts, The Official statement of the release was made on Wednesday (16th Sep 2020) by the company for testing a new feature in the mobile app that will enable individuals to record 15-second short multi-segmented videos.
That is exactly the same length as the default on TikTok as well as Instagram’s new TikTok clone, Reels The Feature is initially released in India and yes it makes complete sense as India has recently Banned ByteDance-owned TikTok which is a Chinese app.
The case that the Indian government has put forward to ban the mobile app was that Chinese Apps are gathering user data through their app illegally, accumulating personal information from users at the time of download. while this is not the case with Google LLC, it has established goodwill and trust in the digital community around the globe.
YouTube already has a viewership of 2 billion (Statista, 2019) logged-in users every month and the platform serves billion hours of new content to its viewers and a chance for content makers to earn money through it and because of this very reason Google LLC decided to integrate YouTube shorts in their existing YouTube App rather than creating a Separate App altogether.
YouTube has always paid attention to try and adopt new things and integrate the latest trending technologies in its own system to make the user experience more engaging and entertaining.
“This is an early version of the product, but we’re releasing it now to bring you — our global community of users, creators, and artists — on our journey with us as we build and improve Shorts. We’ll continue to add more features and expand to more countries in the coming months as we learn from you and listen to your feedback” – YouTube Officials
Before the Ban Tik Tok had been downloaded over 611 million times in India which actually aggregates to 30% of their total global downloads, seeing an opportunity YouTube rushed to get its product out in India first. Although TikTok monetized its platform in India in the later months of 2019, it still generated 3.5 Million $ revenue for the year ending 2019.
This is not the first time when YouTube has made an identical feature that of their digital competitors, previously in 2018 YouTube had launched YouTube reels on its platform which is similar to the stories formats on Snapchat, Instagram.
The homepage on YouTube App will have a newly added row for its new Shorts feature which can be scrolled up and down to browse through the video library in the exacts same fashion you did on TikTok
The new feature will enable users to make a 15 sec or less AV content using a new set of creator tools and filters which includes a multi-segment camera so as to string multiple short video clips together, users can use music from YouTube’s large library of songs.
Speed controls to enhance the effects and give a creative angle to the performance a timer and countdown to record video, hands-free, YouTube is trying to lower the barrier to entry on the content creation which TikTok has done a great job of.
The company has launched the feature on android devices first and confirmed that it is still in the beta stage with limited features, additional new exiting features will be integrated in the next few weeks to months, which means not everyone will have access to it instantly, it is being provided to random people at present.
To check if your YouTube app has the new YouTube Shorts feature, please update the app with the latest version, the feature later will be launched to IOS devices as well, which isn’t going to be much of an issue as a very large population of India uses android devices and has a less IOS footprint comparatively.
If you have not received the short feature in your YouTube app yet, you can still upload your existing videos from your gallery that are less than 60 seconds using the hashtag #Shorts in the description or title.
YouTube has not yet commented anything on monetisation of content but some of the creators who have received the new feature have shown in their YouTube Dashboard that YouTube shorts Video can be monetised as well.
The News of YouTube’s new features launch has come at a time when TikTok is pitching to advertisers this week at IAB NewFronts, TikTok has also launched a new Platform “TikTok for business” where Brands and marketers can review all of the platform’s ad products, make purchases, track their spending, engage in e-learning and glean information about best practices.
TikTok and Wechat both have been banned in the United States from 20th Sep 2020, The US commerce department made the official announcement on Friday 18th Sep 2020, their official statement read” In response to the President Trumps Executive order signed on 6th Aug 2020 the department of commerce today announces prohibitions on transactions relating to mobile application TikTok and Wechat to safeguard the national security of the United States”
TikTok is in a difficult situation and facing immense geopolitical pressure majorly due to its Chinese Ownership. US Tech Giant Oracle is “very close” to sealing a deal to TikTok in buying 20% stake in TikTok. YouTube shorts has a lot to gain once the US Ban is implemented on TikTok.