Along with news about a YouTube TV add-on for offline viewing and 4K content, YouTube announced Wednesday morning that it will launch the beta version of Shorts in the US next month.
“Every year, increasing numbers of people come to YouTube to launch their own channel. But we know there’s still a huge amount of people who find the bar for creation too high,” wrote Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer at YouTube in a blog post Wednesday. “That’s why we’re working on Shorts, our new short-form video tool that lets creators and artists shoot snappy videos with nothing but their mobile phones.”
Rumors of the new content tool began circulating in April 2020 as TikTok was seeing massive growth due to stay at home orders. Shorts began beta testing in India in September, just before Instagram launched its own short form video tool, Reels. In India, the number of channels using Shorts has more than tripled since the beginning of December, according to the blog post written by Mohan The beta version will be coming to the US in the coming weeks.
Other tools coming to YouTube include Super Chat and Super Stickers for live streams, an applause feature to allow viewers to show support for their favorite channels and creators, and monetization opportunities for creators through a new “integrated shopping experience.”