With YouTube rolling out its TikTok-like Shorts in more regions, it’s also adding some new options to give channel managers more controls over how their content can be utilized by Shorts creators, and new analytics in the main app to help track Shorts performance.
First off, YouTube has added a new control option in YouTube Studio which enables channel managers to stop users from using the audio from their videos in Shorts remixes, including the capacity to block Shorts sampling in bulk.
As you can see here, now, you can select multiple videos to action in your content listing, then select ‘Shorts sampling’ from the ‘Edit’ drop-down menu at the top of the listing. You can then select ‘Don’t allow sampling’ if you don’t want people remixing audio from your videos into Shorts clips.
YouTube is hoping to make remixing a key element of Shorts engagement, as it is already on TikTok, with YouTube having an exponentially larger content library for users to choose from to create their own creative Shorts clips. But obviously, a lot of creators have concerns about such, and don’t want their clips spliced out into smaller, potentially mocking samples. As such, YouTube’s added this new control option, which provides more capacity to help YouTubers manage the usage of their clips.
In addition to this, YouTube’s also testing the addition of Shorts analytics in the main YouTube app, as opposed to only being available in YouTube Studio.
As you can see here, YouTube is looking to provide a key overview of key Shorts data in the main app, which would make it easier for users to access performance information on mobile, and without having to go into a separate app. That could be a more attractive option for Shorts creators who are primarily on mobile, giving them more ways to track performance, and align their strategy around response insights.
And when that’s not enough, and as you can see at the bottom of the above screenshot, YouTube also provides a link to YouTube Studio for more insight into your Shorts performance.
Shorts is becoming a bigger focus for YouTube, particularly as the function takes off in India, where TikTok was banned in June last year. At that time, TikTok was one of the most popular apps in the region, and for many, Shorts has replaced that engagement, providing new ways to connect and share content, while also enabling them to build an audience that they can then monetize through longer YouTube clips.
In its recent earnings update, YouTube’s parent company Alphabet reported that Shorts is now up to 6.5 billion daily views, up from 3.5 billion at the end of 2020, while YouTube also recently announced a new $100 million fund to assist top Shorts creators, and provide more incentive for Shorts posts.
That, along with the aforementioned expansion into more regions, could make Shorts an increasingly important consideration, which will also mean that new controls and insights like these will play a bigger role as more creators consider their options.
