Is the short-form video format the future?

The rise (and rise) of TikTok has been impressive, as highlighted in our recent TikTok blog post ‘TikTok’s advantage as a marketing tool’. So it’s no surprise that YouTube has taken notice and created its own version of the short-form video format.

Introducing YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts are another way to be creative with short, engaging videos on the platform. Historically, YouTube has always offered short-form video, with the first ever upload to the platform being just 18 seconds in length (entitled “Me at the zoo.”)

Source: https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/building-youtube-shorts/

The YouTube Shorts format makes it easy for anyone to view via a dedicated section on your mobile (or desktop), and allows straightforward ways for users to create video on mobile.

Once you have watched a video, it will loop until you swipe up or down to the next video – for further enjoyment of your favourite content. You can engage with the video i.e. comment, like, but what most video creators would like you to do is subscribe to their content.

Make short form video an invaluable creative asset

YouTube is already a highly popular platform for video and for its content creators, and YouTube Shorts will support and enhance this reach.

Key YouTube Shorts statistics for 2022:

• 2 billion people use YouTube every month
• YouTube Shorts receives 15 billion viewsdaily
• More than 70% of YouTube watch time is through mobile
• More than 70% of YouTube Shorts are longer than 15 seconds
• YouTube Shorts can be used to gain long-form subscribers

Source: https://earthweb.com/youtube-shorts-statistics

There is likely much more innovation to come as YouTube seeks to compete with the likes of TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Google have also paid attention to this growth, with short-form video becoming part of the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). This makes short-form video assets even more lucrative across all these channels.

YouTube Shorts Ads

With stats like the above you can understand why advertising on YouTube Shorts will be attractive to advertisers. We can now leverage Google’s already highly established advertising platform to further enhance campaign and audience reach.

Google’s CFO Ruth Porat recently said “we are testing monetisation on shorts, and early advertiser feedback and results are encouraging.”

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/27/23044904/youtube-shorts-ads-short-form-video-monetization

Campaigns that work across Google’s networks such as Video Action and Performance Max can be harnessed by simply adopting vertical videos. Having both landscape and vertical videos together can have a significant impact, driving increased conversions. Google’s internal data found that there is a 10-20% increase in conversion per dollar on YouTube Shorts than campaigns that used landscape assets alone [1].

If video editing tools aren’t something that you have easy access to there are other helpful solutions. The easiest route is to use the YouTube video builder (now discoverable in the YouTube assets library), where there are new vertical and square templates available.

Will you be using short-form video formats as part of your marketing mix?

A great starting point would be to use the video assets that you already have. The growth of short-form video formats offers a great opportunity to get your story across and reach new audiences across whichever platform you choose.

Other resources:

https://thesmallbusinessblog.net/youtube-shorts-statistics/

https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/27/23044904/youtube-shorts-ads-short-form-video-monetization

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/26/youtube-q1-earnings-2022-google/

https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/vertical-video-youtube

[1] Google Internal Data, Global, May 1 — June 1, 2022