YouTube combating TikTok with ‘Shorts,’ focusing on easy creation & discovery in main app

As rumored — and following other social networks, YouTube today announced “Shorts” as a “new short-form video experience for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.”

YouTube Shorts will be 15-seconds or less with three core focuses: create, get discovered, and watch. Starting with the creation process, the Google company touts an “easy and fun” workflow. This will be accessed from a prominent ‘plus’ icon in the bottom bar. Built-in tools include:

• A multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together,
• The option to record with music from a large library of songs that will continue to grow,
• Speed controls that give you the flexibility to be creative in your performance,
• And a timer and countdown to easily record, hands-free.

With Shorts, YouTube is leveraging its existing 2 billion monthly viewership:

Creators have built entire businesses on YouTube, and we want to enable the next generation of mobile creators to also grow a community on YouTube with Shorts. 

For those consuming, there will be a new “watch experience that lets you easily swipe vertically from one video to the next, plus discover other similar short videos.” It involves a carousel of “Shorts” in the main YouTube feed of recommended videos.

YouTube Shorts will be available in beta over the coming days for Indian users. Google says this is an “early version of the product” and will be listening to user feedback to “build and improve.”

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.

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