Google launches short-form video format 'YouTube Shorts'

YouTube, one of Google's subsidiaries, has announced the launch of its short-form video format called YouTube Shorts. It is set to roll out a beta version of Shorts in India, with plans to eventually expand to other countries in the coming months while adding more features at the same time.

YouTube Shorts logo / Source: YouTube

YouTube's VP of Product Management Chris Jaffe shared the news on YouTube's official blog on September 14.

“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.

“That's why we're excited to announce that we are building YouTube Shorts, a new short-form video experience right on YouTube for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.”

With YouTube Shorts, users can create short videos with running time of 15 seconds or less.

Users can put together multiple video clips through its multi-segment camera. They can also record with music from their vast library of songs that they will continue to expand.

YouTube Shorts also allows its users to be creative and have a hassle-free recording with its speed controls, timer, and countdown features.

YouTube will also be switching things up for a new watch experience by allotting a row on the YouTube homepage for short videos and allowing users to swipe vertically to go from one video to the next.

Moreover, as YouTube Shorts slowly expands its operations, it will be made available on both Android and iOS devices.

YouTube Shorts is not the only short-form video format that has been compared to the popular mobile videos app TikTok.

Last August 5, Facebook-owned Instagram launched Reels which many believe is their answer to TikTok.

Whether or not YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels were established to beat TikTok, it's interesting to see if they can go head to head with TikTok when it comes to the short-form videos game.

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