YouTube Shorts Tops 1.5B Monthly Viewers

More than 1.5 billion logged-in users are watching YouTube Shorts every month. The Google-owned video platform said a study by Inmar Intelligence found that more than 70% of respondents regularly watch short-form video, adding that channels uploading both Shorts and long-form videos are seeing better overall watch time and subscriber growth than those only uploading long-form content. According to YouTube, the emergence of Shorts has led to the rise of multiformat creators, who move seamlessly between audio, live video, long-form and shorts, mirroring YouTube viewers, who watch at different times and in different places throughout the day. The company wrote in a blog post Wednesday, “These increasingly mobile viewers need content that suits their active lives, varied interests and wide-ranging attention spans. Multiformat creators are meeting this demand by adapting content strategies that utilize YouTube’s distinct and specialized video formats and data analytics. These multiformat creators are using YouTube to lead the next wave of the creator economy.” YouTube put the spotlight on two creators: Ian Boggs and Rosanna Pansino. Boggs began tapping Shorts during the pandemic, one year after graduating college, and his channel topped 5 million subscribers in one year and has tallied over 4 billion total views, with 73% of those coming from his Shorts feed. He said in the blog post, “As a creator, Shorts allows me to express myself in a bite-sized manner, which led to my long-format success. Because I love doing everything—acting, writing, editing, traveling and so much more—storytelling has always been my favorite form of creating. Through storytelling, I’m able to combine those passions in a way where millions of people across the globe can enjoy it. When I create stories that are easily consumable through Shorts and often go viral because of the fact, viewers are eager to watch my long-format content, as well, which often includes short films that I write, produce and act in, as well as vlogs and challenges that are just fun for me to make. I’m incredibly thankful to have a platform on YouTube because it allows me to do it all.” Pansino, with more than 13 million subscribers, is one of the most popular food and beauty icons on YouTube, which has helped her build a business across cookbooks, merchandise and television shows. Views on her main channel doubled-year-over-year since she started posting Shorts, and the format became her channel’s top traffic source. She wrote, “I’ve been on YouTube for over 10 years, and I’ve always wanted to dabble with comedy videos. That’s something I’ve started to do with Shorts, and the response from the community has been amazing. It’s a really cool way that I can test different types of content I’ve wanted to make and see how people respond.” YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan said in the blog post, “When we introduced Shorts, we knew that we were bringing an important new format to the YouTube repertoire for creators, but a powerful byproduct has been seeing all of the amazing new ways that Shorts is helping invigorate a creator’s existing channel or inform a new content strategy. What we’ve seen is that creators are getting really innovative with how they use these multiple formats on the platform. Shorts has really taken off and are now being watched by over 1.5 billion logged-in users every month. While we’re still at the beginning of our journey with Shorts, we know the product will continue to be an integral part of the YouTube experience moving forward.” Neal Mohan YouTube vice president of the Americas Tara Walpert Levy added, "Our creators are at the center of all we do and. through innovations in Shorts, live and podcasting, we're now able to provide a one-stop-shop experience for creators to truly flex their creative muscles, build audiences and make money. By shifting to a multiformat approach, these creators are building unrivaled content strategies specific to their individual channels—while changing the larger content game and driving the creator ecosystem forward. Long-form content remains the best way for creators to deeply engage and develop long term relationships with their audiences. But Shorts offer an exciting, new way to be a part of a viewer’s journey and to introduce themselves and their whole portfolio to new audiences. This approach is yielding real results. Channels uploading both short- and long-form content are seeing better overall watch time and subscriber growth than those uploading only one format.” Tara Walpert Levy YouTube will host a panel at VidCon June 24 featuring Boggs, Pansino and Walpert Levy.

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YouTube Shorts Tops 1.5B Monthly Viewers

The Google-owned video site stressed the advantages of a mix of short-form and long-form content

David Cohen

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