Shorts, YouTube’s dilemma: Could emulating TikTok be its downfall?

YouTube shorts They reveal a paradox that troubles Google. Short clips that echo TikTok’s offering entice audiences, as evidenced by usage statistics. But this technique does not lead to economic returns: advertisers prefer long videos. Based on this, it is worth considering whether it is advisable to simply imitate competition, leaving aside financial assessments. Although it all depends, of course, on how wide your company’s back is to support it.

TikTok’s stunning evolution with net profit growth has surprised even the most skeptical users, according to Statista. This includes industry giants, including Instagram, which, without blushing, copied the proposal of the Chinese company ByteDance.

Google is another one that has taken advantage of short videos. like it’s the elixir of youth. With Shorts, the portal has updated its offer in a business that is increasingly prone to fleeting consumption. However, it is possible that this section will become, rather than a healthy mixture, kryptonite that will weaken the super-powerful YouTube.

Google executives believe Shorts will be YouTube’s downfall

Recent report from Financial Times shed light on the obvious unrest within Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Experienced YouTube employees say that Shorts will do more harm than good in the long run. The focus is on advertising revenue, an area where short-form videos are not performing to their full potential.

As noted, clips ripped from TikTok are beginning to eclipse traditional YouTube content; that is, long-term publications. But the real problem is that Shorts don’t attract advertisers. In other words, the long form is still the primary way money comes in.

YouTube ad revenue declines for third quarter in a row. The decline was 2.6% year over year in the first fiscal period of 2023, Mountain View reported. And while it has been pointed out that economic uncertainty has led to advertisers leaving the platform, that’s not all. The Shorts buzz will also contribute to YouTube’s revenue decline.

Google Bet on Short Videos: A 100% User-Friendly Strategy?

YouTube Shorts launched on mobile phones worldwide in 2021 and came to television in February 2022. Google trusts this format, as confirmed by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. “Last year, the number of channels uploading content to Shorts daily has grown by more than 80%. Those who publish weekly (in the section) saw that most of the new subscribers came from these publications,” he commented, reporting the financial results of the first quarter.

Google celebrated this in February YouTube Shorts surpasses 50 billion daily views. In this context, the company’s commercial director Philipp Schindler emphasized: “We are seeing a stable number of views as well as growth. Monetization is also progressing. “People are increasingly interacting with ads in Shorts,” he said. But, despite the optimistic forecasts and diplomatic decisions of the leadership, statements in turned off They point in a different direction. Inside YouTube, the real fear is the risk that Shorts will spell the end of the long-form video format.

The Short Video Paradox: 5 Keys to Remember

• YouTube needs short videos to attract younger audiences. The survey showed that the portal has lost popularity among users of all ages, with the exception of those over 55 years old.

• The “TikTok format” is more conducive to current times.. Fashion videos aren’t just short; They are also vertical because they were originally designed for phones to be used “in the hand”. According to YouTube, this is not trivial since more than 70% of viewing time is on mobile devices. Global media information. For now, what’s still striking is how the shorts are displayed on TVs: they’re cut out in the middle of the screen, inside a graphic that mimics a smartphone.
• Shorts are gaining popularity among youtubersalthough they are less profitable. The affinity for videos lasting several minutes is evident both among viewers and among those who publish content. youtubers They earn income while spending less time editing. Pure logic: the shorter the video, the less working time. Of course: in the new section, YouTube rewards 45% of advertising revenue, compared to 55% for long-form (traditional) videos.
• Short videos are an addition to YouTube, but they can take center stage.. And again the dilemma in all its glory. How comfortable is it to launch a product that competes with the business’s core offering? Additionally, the following equation needs to be considered: the shorter the time, the less time available to serve ads.
• With Shorts, YouTube is also competing with Instagram.. Copying competitors is common in the app business. The case of Threads, a Meta X (Twitter) clone, is the most recent example, although not the only one for Mark Zuckerberg. In the past, Menlo Park residents have also been “inspired” by Snapchat for stories and then TikTok for their videos. The truth is that short videos on YouTube are also competing with Instagram and trying to reach its reach. Short videos earned more than $10 billion last year, a former Facebook executive reported in late July.

YouTube Shorts: Threat Within or Beast Ready to Strike?

It’s clear that many inside Google believe that Shorts could destroy YouTube, a platform that has brought a lot of fruit to the company. To make their case, critics of short videos say something like this: “No one denies that this is a fashionable format, but it doesn’t make money.”

On the other hand, one can notice aversion to change, in addition to the short-term view. According to the report LuckGoogle executives say Shorts is gaining popularity among viewers and content creators, as well as advertisers.

It is in this order that they aim to make this section the variable that allows the portal to return to a positive path. The aforementioned Schindler stated in the earnings report that the format is a priority for “long-term growth” and that the portal is trending towards “multi-format” in this direction.

On this occasion, Google’s Chief Commercial Officer noted that they are constantly expanding opportunities for marketers to publish advertising in YouTube Shorts.

This momentum has been particularly strong since Neal Mohan took the reins following the departure of Susan Wojcicki, who had led the platform for nearly a decade. All indications are that in his short time at the helm, Mohan has made short videos a “huge priority”. Thus, contrary to concerns expressed by executives consulted Financial Timessection could be a crouching beast, ready to strike.

The challenge is to bridge the gap between long and short videos.

A key challenge for Google is bridging the gap between ad revenue generated by long-form content and revenue generated by short clips. The search for popularity appears to be on the right track: from Shorts’ 30,000 million daily visits in the second quarter of 2022, that figure jumped to 50,000 million during the same period this year.

In this context The rise of YouTube Shorts looks positive for influencers, who faced difficulties in monetizing Instagram videos and their TikTok posts. Google already offers a higher revenue share than other platforms; Now you need to think about how to attract advertisers to the party. Because, as one company employee said, the long format may be a thing of the past: “Long videos are like a book. You need to give them a lot of attention and have a lot of free time.”

The dilemma is obvious. If YouTube can make short-form video attractive to advertisers, it may put the first nails in the coffin of the long-form format that has identified it and made it what it is today. The irony is that while this is happening, TikTok allows you to post increasingly longer content, from the original 15 seconds to the current 10 minutes. Additionally, an update to the Chinese app earlier this year established that creators looking to make money must post content longer than 60 seconds.