- So we've got the channel, right?
That's posting regular videos
and not getting that many views.
Then they decide to post some of those YouTube Shorts.
You should know what they are by now, vertical format videos
under 60 seconds long, and all of a sudden,
the views on the videos multiply by 100s.
Coincidence?
(upbeat music)
All right, all right, I get it.
I'm going to apologize for those of you
who are already bored to tears
of me talking about this topic.
Having said that, I don't want to be caught
with my proverbial YouTube pants down if this blows up
into the next big thing on the platform,
but if it is a complete flop,
let's never speak of this again.
Until then, YouTube Shorts.
It's now available, at least in beta phase, across India,
and that's because, well, TikTok isn't at all
and it might soon be banned everywhere else as well.
This gives YouTube the opportunity to test
and perfect its latest creation
without such a fierce competitor
before we all get to properly see it and use it.
I say properly because we can already see these short videos
if we are in the YouTube app, and we can swipe
through them almost as if we are on TikTok itself,
and when you see a creator of the size and influence
of MrBeast opening up his own dedicated YouTube Shorts
channel that already has a million subscribers
and 10s of millions of views, you know this is something
you should start paying some attention to,
and while we don't yet have access to this button
in the YouTube app that will properly allow us
to make YouTube Shorts, every single one
of us has backdoor access as a creator.
In order for your video to potentially qualify
as a YouTube short, it must be recorded
in a vertical video format of less than a minute
and include #shorts in either the video title
or description.
Sounds simple, right?
Well, we'll get back to that later.
A very pertinent question many of you are asking right now
is why should I be interested in these YouTube Shorts?
I've been conditioned on YouTube by VidIQ
and many other YouTube educators to create longer content
that gets more watch time, sends positive signals
to YouTube, who then share my content more,
and you're absolutely right, but right now,
not many people are making YouTube Shorts
because it's a brand new thing.
So there's a lot less competition, and smaller channels
are always asking this question, how can I stand out
in this YouTube universe which is so competitive?
And YouTube Shorts might be the answer,
and here are some examples of creators
who are finding success potentially with YouTube Shorts.
Let's go back to that channel I showed you
at the start and confirm what we saw.
Up until a week ago, it was just another
small gaming channel struggling to gain traction
with long-form videos, and then they decide
to test the shorts format, and bingo, 2,000 views.
Let's follow that up with another four short videos
in very quick succession, and they all get lots
of views for the size of the channel.
Now, irrespective of whether these videos
were actually considered YouTube Shorts,
it does tell us one thing about being a creator,
never be afraid to test things every once
in a while on your channel.
Now, it's not all good news for this creator.
They did try another short video which didn't work
as well at all, and now they've gone back
to long-form content with equally disappointing results.
So they haven't quite cracked the YouTube nut just yet,
but for a brief moment of time in a series of videos,
that small creator was having a significant impact compared
to their perceived influence through a new form
of video that nobody has really tested yet
on YouTube with much success.
Of course, there have been exceptions in the past,
but nobody really goes onto YouTube with the intention
of making short form content, and I'm not just gonna go
on the evidence of one channel.
I've seen other success stories too on social media.
GamingDestiny reached out to me on Twitter to let me know
that he had set up a brand new YouTube channel,
uploaded one short video, and it suddenly got 100s of views.
If you've ever started a YouTube channel from scratch,
you know how difficult it is to get 100 views
on your first video.
I checked out his other channel, and again,
I found more evidence short-form, vertical format videos
outperforming the rest of his channel.
Coincidence?
Next, it was at Adrienne Smith who posted
in our Facebook group that she tried uploading a short
to YouTube that, to begin with, didn't do anything,
but then all of a sudden, it gained more views
than the initial launch velocity of the video.
How often does that happen to anyone?
Is this just another coincidence?
Let's be careful about all of this.
I'm not prepared to say yet that this is the next big thing.
We're talking about a handful of examples
and very small sample sizes, 100s of views at this point,
but these channels all have a few things in common.
They're small channels who have experimented
with the short-form videos, and they've got far more views
than they would usually expect, and critically,
they all came from the same traffic source.
At first, when you see such a high volume of direct
and unknown views as a traffic source, you are right
to think cautiously, but three channels
all posting short-form videos and getting an excess
of the same traffic source of direct and unknown views,
that's a pattern you can't completely ignore.
I did try to get an answer from YouTube as
to what traffic source YouTube Shorts might fall under,
but as always, no such reply has been forthcoming,
and this lack of information is a continued source
of frustration when it comes to YouTube Shorts.
They've announced it, they've teased it,
but told us almost nothing about it
in terms of a creator's point of view.
So YouTube, if you're watching this,
and I sincerely hope you are, these are a bunch of questions
both myself and creators have currently about shorts.
How do I knew when and if my content has appeared
on YouTube as a short?
If I don't include #shorts, could it still be considered
as a short as previous videos
from years ago seem to have been?
What constitutes a vertical video format?
Please give us the aspect ratio for the maximum limits.
What happens if a video is exactly 60 seconds long
since you add a second onto all of your timestamps?
In the long-term, will short videos send notifications
to subscribers?
Because YouTube stories don't, but short videos do,
and that's why there's still a confusion
between those two types of content
that are essentially doing the same thing on YouTube.
Do impressions, click-through rates,
and watch time have any bearing on a YouTube Shorts video?
And does it make any difference if you upload
and publish the short video on a desktop
versus doing it all through a mobile phone?
Come on, YouTube, you're on the clock,
let's get some answers, and if you've got any questions,
post them in the comments below.
Now, as well as MrBeast testing out YouTube Shorts along
with many smaller channels, you want to know
who else has been trying out this new feature?
Us.
Hello, everyone, I'm Rob.
I'm gonna smash you in the face with this subscribe pillow
for the next 30 seconds.
Yeah, I wouldn't call this our usual education content,
which is why we've created a brand new channel.
Look, I even made the channel banner myself.
I'm particularly proud of that.
This is certainly going to be our place
of experimentation with YouTube Shorts.
We're testing videos without thumbnails,
a little description, no video tags even.
It is a place of no boundaries,
no expectations, but guaranteed fun.
Just subscribe.
Oh, I think I broke my camera.
So far, let's be honest, the results here
have been absolutely terrible.
Hardly any views and absolutely nothing
from direct and unknown sources yet.
It's clear we haven't triggered any sort
of YouTube Shorts algorithm.
On the plus side though, look at that click-through rate.
Whoa, who said thumbnails were important?
As well as the test channel, we have also been posting
these short videos on the main VidIQ channel
with proper thumbnails and optimization.
I've been surprised at how well-received
these have been, to be honest.
Most comments are positive, and the videos perform just
as well as any other video on the channel.
At the same time, however, I don't think anyone is watching
these videos as YouTube Shorts, how I intended them
to be watched, all of which brings us full circle back
to the beginning of this video.
Yes, I know some of you are bored of me talking
about YouTube shorts, and some of you are frustrated
that we're testing YouTube Shorts on the main channel.
So please vote over here, would you like me to keep these
or get, no, hang on, I can't do YouTube polls anymore
because they removed the feature.
YouTube.