YouTube Announces New Video Experience ‘Shorts’
Youtube announced that it is testing a new kind of video.
Entitled “Shorts,” they are 15-second videos shot on mobile devices and shared on the platform, presumably to rival the media-giant TikTok.
This week in India we’re launching an early beta of YouTube Shorts, a new way to discover, watch and create short, vertical videos on the YouTube app.
Even if you don’t live in India, you can still upload your short videos today. Learn more → https://t.co/6VySxIwMB9 pic.twitter.com/M0jXHoJkki
— YouTube Creators (@YouTubeCreators) September 14, 2020
The Google-owned company is currently testing its new ‘Shorts’ in India and plans to expand to more countries in the coming months. India was one of the first countries where TikTok went viral, and also one of the first countries where Chinese apps, such as TikTok, were banned, leaving a gap in the market to be filled. Apps were banned due to them being a “threat to sovereignty and integrity.”
There are many similarities between “Shorts” and TikToks. Users can quickly swipe from one video to the next, add music and text, adjust playback speed, quickly edit videos together, as well as a timer for self-shot videos. Youtube stated it wants a way for users to “shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.”
In a blog post, YouTube stated, “Over the next few days in India, we’re launching an early beta of Shorts with a handful of new creation tools to test this out. 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.”
People around the world have been sharing their opinions on how “Shorts” look based on Youtube’s ads, and reactions vary.
YouTube Shorts, a TikTok competitor, is launching in India. It looks terrible 😬 https://t.co/CmF7dDYCQY
— Daniel Sinclair (@_DanielSinclair) September 14, 2020
We look forward to trying out “Shorts” once they become available. You can read more about the new tool on YouTube’s website here.
