YouTube Shorts has hit 50 billion daily views. That’s a lot of eyeballs.

And, as we’ve previously touched on, YouTube has introduced a revenue sharing scheme to bring more creators onto the platform. Its goal? Eat into TikTok’s dominance of short-form video. And it seems to be working. They’ve also had a 50% increase in daily viewers compared to this time last year.

The audience is there – are you?

This stiff competition, with Meta’s Reels also fighting for the top spot, is poised to be a golden age for creators and for brands. Why? YouTube Shorts has been aggressively seeking more content from creators to meet the increase in demand.

In fact, at the end of 2021, year on year Shorts viewership was +514% with new content uploads sitting at only +169%. In comparison, YouTube proper only experienced an +18% growth during the same period.

But where to start?

1. Repurpose long-form YouTube videos

If you already have a library of YouTube content, it’s time to start turning it into Shorts. Shorts made with content from long-form YouTube videos generated over 100B+ views as of April 2022.

2. It’s time to experiment

It’s a new space, do something different! Shorts is a new platform that is ripe for testing different content formats.

3. Creators want change

With TikTok’s domination in the short-form video space, creators are eager for new opportunities from brands that will allow them to appeal to new audiences. This benefits brands with fresh exposure and creators toying with a new medium.

4. Don’t overcomplicate it

It can be as easy as reposting content from TikTok and Reels – but beware, creators have noticed that watermarked videos cannot be monetized and perform poorly when compared to unwatermarked content.

5. Plan for a more diverse audience

81% of all US adults 18+ say they use YouTube regularly, compared to TikTok whose primary demographic is Gen Z. Shorts content has the opportunity to appeal to a range of different people (with bigger wallets).

Article written by Christopher Douglas, US Senior Strategy Manager at Billion Dollar Boy.

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