- Can you get more views from YouTube Shorts?
Yes, now we got proof,
and you've had a lot to say about it as well, lets do this.
(upbeat music)
Alright folks am gonna be honest with you,
I kinda done with trying to actually explain
what YouTube Shorts are,
so if you still a little bit behind the times here,
do check out the playlist over here
which covers all of this in detail.
In this video, am gonna concentrate
on how YouTube Shorts are actually impacting creators,
starting, with ourselves.
So if you've been following along from the very beginning,
you will know that we started our own Shorts channel
with a fantastic channel banner, hundreds of subscribers,
and rather hilariously already five hours of watch time.
Monetization, here we come.
(chimes)
What we've also been doing is posting some
of these shorts on our main channel,
and they haven't been doing too badly.
At this stage I can't say whether they are positively
or negatively impacting the channel,
but this particular video,
has given us the data we've been looking for.
So as you can see it's a vertical video
it's 59 seconds long, and here's how the views
on that video performed from the moment it was launched.
As with any video launched on a channel
with many subscribers, you're going to get a lot of views
from notifications first,
but they will eventually tail off as they did here,
and over the first week
of the video's life things look normal.
But then, all of a sudden, there's a little upwards kink
in the views after a week.
What on Earth is going on here?
Just to confirm, we haven't done anything with this video.
We've not posted it on social media,
put it on a community tab,
made any attempts to boost the views
on this video since it was launched.
This is all YouTube's initiative, whatever that is,
and how we were able to find out what they've done is
by going to the traffic sources.
Just to be clear what we're talking about here,
on the YouTube mobile app,
this is a viewers new entry point into YouTube's stories,
short videos, or shorts, whatever they're called.
So to work out if our videos are appearing on the shelf,
we need to know what the traffic source is.
We'd already theorized from other creator's data,
that the traffic source comes from direct or unknown views
which sounds ominous but now we can confirm this too,
because when we move from that kink in the graph
to the real time analytics,
there we find a sudden surge in direct
or unknown views that could only be explained by one thing,
(chimes)
YouTube Shorts.
(chimes)
It also helps that somebody commented on the video
to tell us that they've seen it in YouTube Shorts
and I could have told you that at the beginning of,
this video, but you know, intrigue,
suspense, data, story telling,
its all gotta lead up to the big reveal, right?
Now there are a couple
of interesting additional discussion points
about this video.
First of all, it's fully optimized.
We included a thumbnail,
we wrote out a complete description, even added video tags.
And that didn't have any impact whether or not
it would appear on YouTube Shorts.
Also like many other people have been saying,
it took days before YouTube tested this in YouTube Shorts.
So it's not like normal videos
where the first 48 hours are crucial,
it could blow up, so to speak at any time it seems
at least in the first couple of weeks.
We told you about YouTube Shorts
before they even had a name a few weeks ago,
so you've had a little bit of time to play about with them,
and this is what you've been telling us.
GettinJigglyWitIt who quite frankly has
an awesome YouTube channel name,
had one of his Shorts blow up with 11 thousand views.
That's for a channel with 600 subscribers.
He too mentioned the delay before the video starts to appear
in Shorts, and how YouTube doesn't always push every video
into the Shorts shelf.
For those who have been wondering about the aspect ratios
of vertical videos,
Interesting Igloo tells us he's been having success
with nine by 16 videos, as well as pointing out
that that's the format Mr. Beast is posting for his shorts.
Of course not everyone wants YouTube Shorts.
GRUESOME hopes that they fail
as we don't need another TikTok,
and that is an interesting side discussion.
Nobody ever really asked for short form content
from YouTube, and yet they've given it to us,
and we as creators are going to leverage it
as much as we can,
but as a viewer do you want short videos on YouTube?
Let us know in the comments bellow.
It looks like Jon Dunkerley is going all
in with this having started a brand new Shorts channel
about his dog doing funny things.
- [Jon] Hey Jasper what do you think
about Jon Dunkerley's new Shorts channel all
about dogs doing funny things.
You just don't care do you?
You just want some food.
- Despite the fact
that Jon Dunkerley's new YouTube Shorts channel only has,
10 subscribers, he's getting 400 views
on some of his shorts.
LeigerGaming gave YouTube Shorts a bash
and one of his videos popped suddenly
with direct and unknown views
before quickly dying off again.
I also had a quick look at the thumbnail he made
and look at how he's designed
it to suite both normal thumbnail shapes
and the vertical formats.
If YouTube ever decides to use costume thumbnails
in the Shorts shelf, which as far as I know
they don't currently.
A really interesting one here
from a channel called Nicksbankrpt
who told us that a video from March 2019 recently took off
with a 1,000 views.
We asked him to check out the traffic sources
and yeap, they all came from direct or unknown views.
As for Ezekiel Johnson, well he just called me a star
and sometimes that's all you need
to get yourself featured in a vidIQ video.
Wealth Insiders looks to be profiting
from YouTube Shorts too.
Get it, Wealth Insiders, profiting,
anyway, what's also really interesting here is
that he's also gaining subscribers
from these YouTube Shorts as well.
There is a danger to testing these YouTube Shorts
on a main channel, where there is an excising audience.
You're testing their patience
with completely different content.
They subscribe with certain YouTube expectations
of videos of several minutes possibly more
and all of the sudden, you are forcing them to indulge
in micro bite content.
Even though YouTube Shorts we've been testing
on our main channel have been doing okay view wise,
they do seem to be ticking off subscribers,
as we are losing subscribers,
whenever we post these short videos.
So that is one analytic to keep a very keen eye on.
And with that thought in mind
this is probably the most interesting comment
of a lot from Yeti's Place.
I attended a private video meeting from YouTube on Shorts,
and they said at this time
that YouTube haven't separated from Shorts
and long form content.
Therefore, channel audience view duration will decrease.
They told us to be careful with Shorts,
we don't want to put dramatically different content
on the channel.
Also be careful if someone doesn't watch the full 15
to 60 seconds, as it will hurt analytics.
At this time YouTube doesn't have an ETA
on when analytics will be separated.
There's also no need to place #Shorts in your titles
of a vertical video,
YouTube will automatically know if it's filmed vertically
and is within the time frame constraints, it's a short.
Alright then, there's a lot of information to unpack there.
First of all, Yeti's Place, thank you for that information
it really valuable.
Secondly, YouTube, if all of this is true,
what are you playing at?
Because you haven't decided
what you're doing with these analytics
for YouTube Shorts yet.
The average view duration
which is obviously gonna be
a fraction of your normal content,
is gonna impact the channel.
(gibbering)
It's not good.
You've just potentially put something really destructive
in our hands, and what do you think we are gonna do with it?
(machine rumbling)
(screams)
Also, why YouTube are you publicly saying one thing
about needing a Shorts hashtag in videos
but telling select creators a completely different thing
about hashtags.
At least be clear and consistent
in your communication please.
Right how do I get this to work again?
Oh that was easy, give me a second.
I'm vidIQ man.
And so with all of this being said,
and tested by all of us,
Adam Mellor had one simple question.
Will YouTube Shorts be the next big thing?
Well I think we can all agree on this for the time being,
YouTube Shorts are no longer a mild curiosity,
a fable of a platform.
They are definitely a thing,
and while TikTok continues to be in turmoil,
YouTube Shorts will continue to be a thing as well.
And I think they are definitely going to be creators
who take advantage of YouTube Shorts,
and create amazing channels and community.
And you've already seen in this video,
many of the success stories
of people trying out YouTube Shorts,
but at the same time,
we have not really covered all
of those who had a test of YouTube Shorts
and have gained nothing from it.
Here's what is still personally think about YouTube Shorts,
I don't think they can coexist in the YouTube App,
as it stands.
The way you have to navigate towards the short videos,
just doesn't fit with how many people want
to consume content.
They either go to YouTube to watch long form content,
or they go to TikTok.
And I think YouTube Shorts has to find its own place,
in YouTube, whether that be with a separate button
in the app, rather than have to scroll through feeds,
or whether it's an entirely new YouTube Shorts Application.
And I am still completely mystified
by the YouTube Shorts algorithm,
discovery engine, or analytics.
And I think YouTube wants to keep it that way,
they don't want creators like us trying to game a system
or crack the code.
They want to give you advice about just making short videos,
that are fun and entertaining, and leave it at that.
But none of this is going to stop educators like us,
and creators like you working out the best way
to use YouTube Shorts.
As for monetization,
I don't even wanna touch that subject just yet.
And with all that's been said,
we've just got one more comment to deal with.
We're not worthy, we're not worthy.
GaryVee, we're not worthy.
Seriously though, bite size,
snackable content, is GaryVee's bread and butter.
He'll be on YouTube Shorts within a month,
and if he isn't.
(screams)
Squirrel.