YouTube Shorts, Google's answer to short-form video giant TikTok, has started rolling out in the United States.
The TikTok rival lets creators record, edit, and share short-form video content that can be set to popular music.
The app also offers foundational creation tools, such as recording with music, control speed settings, and a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together.
Initially announced in September 2020, YouTube had secured agreements with over 250 labels and publishers to make sure artists and creators have a large library of songs to use in their Shorts.
The deals with some of the biggest music company in the country, which includes Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, as well as with Warner Chappell Music, Merlin, Believe, Kobalt, 300 Entertainment, Beggars, Empire, CD Baby, Reservoir, Peer, OneRPM, and others.
YouTube Shorts: Beta Rollout and Launch Date
The beta testing for the now-TikTok rival was first rolled-out in India, where the Chinese-owned video-sharing social networking service was banned.
Shorts Beta rollout in the most densely populated country proved to be successful, surpassing 6.5 billion daily views globally.
YouTube did not reveal the number of creators who adopted the product, nor the number of Shorts videos produced. Its success in the Indian market is not representative of how Shorts may fare in the U.S. market.
Also Read: TikTok Tries Out Three-Minute Video Feature on App and Desktop
This speculation's main reason is that India banned TikTok in their country, which helped boost other short-form video apps.
Although YouTube has not offered a timeline for when the feature would be available to more markets, the U.S.-based video-sharing giant promises to add more features as the market grows.
The YouTube Shorts product is still in its beta stage, but it is expected to iterate on the Shorts experience over time.
YouTube Shorts' video creation tools will be released in the U.S. on March 18 and are geared to expand all over the country over the next several weeks.
Expectations and Future Plans
According to a Tech Crunch report, YouTube's product lead for YouTube Shorts Todd Sherman, believes Shorts and short-form video has become a natural progression for YouTube.
Being the world's original user-generated video platform, Sherman said YouTube is keen on taking a step forward into a new world of video that centers around mobile phone use.
"It's really important that we build this in partnership with the creator community...and for that matter, even more broadly, the same goes for viewers and our partners in the music industry," he said.
In the long run, YouTube Shorts is foreseen to differentiate itself from its competitors on the market by way of its connection to the larger YouTube platform creating a new kind of digital ecosystem.
"You can take a step forward into YouTube or even YouTube Music in the foreseeable future. And then from YouTube, you could also initiate creation into Shorts. That bridging of ecosystems, I think is an important part of this," Sherman explained.
Related Article: [Guide] YouTube Shorts Is the New TikTok: How to Create a 15-Second Video Clip
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Lee Mercado