TikTok was the new kid on the block and every social media company wanted to be a part of it. Facebook tried it with Lasso and didn't work. There was some skepticism when it was announced that there would be a shortform video platform on the site.
It seems like it's a huge success. More than 1.5 billion people every month from around the world watch YouTube shorts.
Even more users are watching YouTube shortform content on their favorite creators' channel pages as a result of the stat provided by the company.
TikTok, which has become synonymous with shortform video and serves as the inspiration for YouTube shorts, announced in September that it had reached 1 billion monthly users. While TikTok has a larger user base, it seems clear that it's not the closest competitor.
"Shorts has taken off and are now being watched by over 1.5 billion people every month," Neal Mohan said in a statement. While we are still at the beginning of our journey with Shorts, we know the product will continue to be an important part of the YouTube experience.
In March of last year, shorts were launched in the U.S.
This is an important part of the story. Unlike Facebook, which first launched a completely separate app with Lasso, YouTube built its own shorts directly within its video platform. The built-in user base helped grow YouTube shorts. It doesn't seem like they're being encouraged by just being part of the site. Success has been found with it by creators.
According to Mohan, creators are getting innovative with how they use multiple formats on the platform.
Some YouTubers, like Rosanna Pansino, say that their video views have doubled, and that their shortform videos have become the biggest source of traffic to their channel.
It seems that the model works. So much so that Facebook has since launched its own built in shortform video platform called Facebook Reels.
According to TikTok, it's number one competitor is YouTube. TIkTok was looking to go head-to-head on the longform side when it launched earlier this year. It will be interesting to see how TikTok's latest numbers compare to what they've been able to do.
When we hear back, the post will be updated.
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