The Beta version of YouTube Shorts finally arrives in the Philippines today! Shorts is the platform’s new short-form video experience to create short, catchy videos from mobile phones. First announced in September 2020, YouTube has since expanded the feature to 26 countries to include the Philippines, making it available across more than 100 countries where YouTube is available.
While short-form videos were already viewable on the platform, users will now be able to access Shorts’ creation tools which include a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music, control speed settings, and more. YouTube will also be bringing new features such as:
- Adding text to specific points in videos
- Automatically adding captions to Shorts
- Recording up to 60 seconds with the Shorts camera
- Adding clips from a phone’s gallery to add to recordings made with the Shorts camera
- Adding basic filters to color correct Shorts, with more effects to come in the future
The new features also include the ability to sample audio not only from other Shorts but also from the billions of videos available on YouTube, unlocking a new playground of creativity like never before. This means that users can give their own creative spin on the content they love to watch and help find a new audience. From reacting to favorite jokes, trying a hand at a creator’s latest recipe, or re-enacting comedic skits, creators will be in control and will be able to opt out if they don’t want their long-form video remixed.
“We want to make it easy and fun to create Shorts. As we continue to build Shorts alongside our creators and artists, we’ll be adding more features for people to try,” according to Todd Sherman, Global Product Manager for YouTube Shorts.
Seamless Viewing Experience Across YouTube
Helping people find Shorts to enjoy and creators get discovered is also a key component of the product experience. That is why even before announcing the creation tools, YouTube introduced a row on the YouTube homepage especially for Shorts, launched a new watch experience that lets viewers easily swipe vertically from one video to the next, and will soon add a Shorts tab on mobile that makes it easier for people to watch Shorts with a single tap.
As of today, the YouTube Shorts player has surpassed 6.5 billion daily views globally.
Shorts will be integrated into the YouTube experience people already know and love: if they hear a snippet of a song on Shorts, they can easily find the full song, watch the music video, or learn more about the artist.
Support for Mobile Creators
YouTube has helped an entire generation of creators turn their creativity into businesses and become the next generation of media companies. Over the last three years, the company has paid more than US$30B to creators, artists, and media companies.
With Shorts being a new way to watch and create on YouTube, the company has been looking at various ways to monetize Shorts and reward creators for their content, including the recently announced YouTube Shorts Fund, amounting to US$100M distributed over the course of 2021-2022.
“We know that it will take us time to get this right, and we’re just getting started. We can’t wait for you to try Shorts and help us build a first-class, short-form video experience right on YouTube,” Sherman said.
YouTube Shorts Beta is currently rolling out in more countries and will be available to everybody soon.