YouTube has jumped on the short-form video bandwagon with YouTube Shorts, which will compete with TikTok. YouTube is all set to experiment with Shorts in India. Over the next few days, YouTube will roll out an early beta of Shorts. As a result, content creators in India will be able to tinker around with YouTube’s short-form video creation tools.
YouTube Shorts being launched
YouTube Shorts is Google’s answer to now-defunct TikTok in India. Clearly, Google and YouTube want to cash in on the on-going hype and social media sensation when it comes to short-form videos.
YouTube Shorts will allow users to express themselves in 15 seconds or less. The entire experience involves a 3-step approach:
- Create
- Get discovered
- Watch
“As technology advances, creators and artists can now take advantage of the incredible power of smartphones to easily create and publish high-quality content wherever they are in the world. And people can be entertained and informed by bite-sized content in the spare minutes of the day,” said Chris Jaffe, YouTube’s VP of Product Management.
Content creation will always be at the center of YouTube Shorts. Without content or content creators, YouTube Shorts will be good for nothing. As a result, YouTube Shorts will introduce new content creation tools, as follows:
- Multi-segment camera
- Record with music
- Speed controls
- Timer and countdown
These content creation tools will together help YouTube Shorts grow its popularity among Indias. YouTube Shorts has some advantages for a number of reasons. YouTube has always been a video streaming platform. Hence, Shorts is not a result of any drastic change in strategy but merely an extension to its primary focus.
YouTube users will be able to discover Shorts on the homepage. But Google isn’t the only company interested in short-form content creation. A couple of months ago, Instagram announced Reels in India. Eventually, the Instagram Reels service was expanded globally.
In June, the Government of India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology imposed a ban on TikTok on the grounds of national security. Since then, several apps (both local and international ones) have been trying to fill the vacuum created by TikTok’s departure in India.
