YouTube Shorts, Google's TikTok competitor meant for bite-sized content, is now available in the US. At least in beta.
YouTube Goes After TikTok
YouTube Shorts initially launched in September 2020 in beta in India. In February 2021, we got wind that YouTube Shorts would soon arrive in the US. And that is now happening, as first reported by XDA Developers.
YouTube Shorts are vertical videos that are 15-seconds in length, with creators shooting and editing the videos on their phones. There's the option to add various effects, filters, and background music, and string multiple 15-second clips together to create YouTube Shorts that are up to 60 seconds long.
YouTube Shorts Aims to Take on TikTok
Last year, soon after TikTok was banned in the country, YouTube launched Shorts in India to fill the void. Shorts has been a massive success in the country, with the short video player receiving more than 3.5 billion daily global views.
Since the US is one of the largest markets for TikTok, it's not surprising that YouTube is expanding the Shorts beta program to the US. YouTube could soon expand the Shorts beta program and roll out the service worldwide to better compete against TikTok.
YouTube Shorts videos are found on the Shorts shelf in the YouTube app. Unlike regular YouTube videos, there's no way for creators to monetize their YouTube Shorts videos right now. For this reason, YouTube won't display any ads on YouTube Shorts either.
How to Get Early Access to YouTube Shorts
If you live in the United States, YouTube Shorts videos should start showing up in the YouTube app on your device soon. In case that doesn't happen for a few days, you can try joining the YouTube beta program on Android to see if that helps.
To upload a Shorts video, you need to tap the + icon in the YouTube app, followed by Video and then select the Create a short video option.