It’s no secret now: the world has definitely gone crazy for short, snacky videos. Sure, those small, bite-sized bits of entertainment originally surged into the stratosphere through TikTok, but they are here to stay on social media. Still, though, one site slowly began to gain ground: YouTube.
Through its Shorts feature, YouTube has really carved out a niche in this booming vertical video market. First released in 2020, many wrote off Shorts as another failed attempt to clone TikTok. Cut to the present: Shorts are racking up a staggering 70 billion views per day.
Several advantages work in favor of YouTube. Because it already has a huge audience used to watching videos on the site, getting users to the new Shorts tab is low-hanging fruit. The integration here is seamless, so it’s very easy for viewers to consume short clips alongside traditional longer uploads.
Whereas TikTok still leads in this format, YouTube is on its heels. Data indicates that about a third of music listeners in the US now turn to Shorts, inching closer to the rate on TikTok, with this gap reducing quickly as Shorts’ popularity surges in recent months.
If TikTok were to get banned in its most important American market, Shorts would be there to pick up the slack. At its current rate of growth, YouTube was going to replace TikTok as the top dog of tiny videos anyway. By all indications, Shorts will surpass its rival’s levels of engagement this year.
