TikTok has been winning the short portrait-form video since 2020 and many companies have been copying them in order to get the attention of younger internet users who make up the majority.
YouTube which is often referred to as the OG in the video-sharing market has incorporated short-form videos into its system for a long time now but in an attempt to sway more audiences to use the feature, the Alphabet-owned video-sharing giant is said to have unveiled a new way for creators to make more money on short-form videos.
The company announced on Tuesday that it would introduce advertising on its TikTok clone called “Shorts” where it will give video creators 45% of the revenue.
That compares it with its standard distribution of 55% for videos right outside of Shorts or TikTok’s US$1 billion fund for paying creators.
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One of the prominent users of YouTube Shorts is Kallmekris, a former hairstylist who was in support of the decision.
“Other platforms are focused on getting people their 15 seconds of fame, which is great,” she said. “But YouTube is taking a different approach. They’re helping creators make stuff in multiple formats.”
Even though YouTube owns the bigger pie in the video-sharing market, it’s obviously struggling to beat TikTok in the short-form video format.
TikTok is very popular among Gen-Z and has seen an exponential rise to prominence in recent years with over 1 billion monthly users.
YouTube Shorts was launched back in 2020 which is a short-form video and an alternative to TikTok and it has reportedly seen over 1.5 billion monthly viewers.
In fact, the company promotes its shorts both on mobile and desktop platforms alike.
The company also created a US$100 million fund to entice creators to make short-form videos back in April and its new revenue-sharing plan will see more people rushing in to try things out.
YouTube is sharing a smaller proportion of sales with Shorts creators to offset its significant investment in developing the feature, Vice President Tara Walpert Levy said.
According to reports, Google generated about US$14.2 billion in YouTube ad sales during the first half of the year which is a 9% increase when compared to the same period last year.
However, the company’s quarterly ad sales have seen a slight drop since the disclosure of the data three years ago even though there are other factors including the current global economic situation and even TikTok.
