YouTube Shorts, the feature on the video sharing platform YouTube that allows users to create and share short, 15-seconds or less, videos using a smartphone camera and editing tools built into the app, is monetised starting 1st of February.
Alphabet Inc. announced on Wednesday a new revenue scheme for its feature, YouTube Shorts which launched in September 2022, “starting February 1, 2023, monetizing partners will be able to earn money from ads that are viewed between videos in the Shorts Feed.” Creators of Shorts must have over 1,000 subscribers and a certain number of views to be eligible for the revenue, from which they get 45% while YouTube retains the remaining 55%. For comparison, TikTok creators with over 100,000 followers are eligible, and they get 50% of revenue on advertising.
YouTube Shorts was created as a response to the growing popularity of similar features on social media platforms such as TikTok. The move comes as social media platforms seek to increase their advertising revenue and reduce marketing costs. “We have seen more viewer growth with Shorts, and that creates more inventory for us and more opportunity for advertisers,” said Nicky Rettke, vice-president of product management at YouTube.
Ads have been displayed on YouTube Shorts since September last year, due to its growing popularity, it now has over 1.5 billion monthly users, or three quarters of all YouTube users. On the other hand, TikTok, the platform’s rival has been banned in a couple of countries, including India which was considered its biggest overseas market with more than 200 million users at the time. Now that YouTube is monetizing Shorts, these content creators may as well be driven to YouTube.
Source: ft.com
