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YouTube is entering the competitive short video space, launching a new feature within its main app for users to record and upload 15-second videos. The new opportunistic feature will launch in beta in India, which was TikTok’s largest market until the app was banned in late June.
The product, called YouTube Shorts, was unveiled on Monday (September 14) and will be accessible through the ‘Create’ icon on the YouTube mobile app, which was recently given a more prominent place for users. of Android in India before Shorts.
Under ‘Create’, users can select three options: upload a video, create a short, or go live. Users can edit pre-existing videos of 15 seconds or less or record new videos using a multi-segment camera, which allows the option to chain multiple video clips together.
Other tools similar to those offered by TikTok and Instagram Reels include a timer and countdown for hands-free recording, speed controls, and the option to put music on by tapping your YouTube song library.
An early beta version of the product will be released in India in the coming days, with more authoring tools and country releases planned “in the coming months.”
YouTube said it will launch the product early to allow its community of users, creators and artists to provide feedback and iterate on the tool.
In a blog post, Chris Jaffe, YouTube’s vice president of product management, said that short user-generated videos were “born on YouTube” beginning with their first upload, an 18-second video called “Me at the Zoo.”
“As technology advances, creators and artists can now harness the incredible power of smartphones to easily create and publish high-quality content anywhere in the world. And people can be entertained and informed with small content in minutes. free. of the day, “said Jaffe.
“That’s why we are pleased to announce that we are creating YouTube Shorts, a new short-form video experience directly on YouTube for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using only their mobile phones.”
The YouTube home page will now have a row for short videos, and users will be able to scroll vertically from one video to the next and discover other similar short videos as part of a new viewing experience introduced for Shorts.
The opportunistic launch comes just months after India banned TikTok from operating the market as part of a broader crackdown on Chinese-owned apps. TikTok had 200 million users in India when it was banned in June.
A week after the ban was instituted, Instagram released a copycat short-form video format called Reels in India. The product, which allows users to create and share videos up to 15 seconds in length, launched in more than 50 countries in August.
