TikTok rival YouTube Shorts is now averaging over 30 billion daily views four times as much as a year ago, as short-form content is witnessing huge adoption across the globa, including India. According to Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, viewers are watching over 700 million hours of YouTube content on televisions every day. "Just as YouTube evolved from desktop to mobile, and that created huge opportunities, we are excited about the new opportunities we see now. Short-form video is one," he said during the company's earnings call late on Tuesday. YouTube Shorts has been rolled out to over 100 countries, and is helping creators monetise their short-term videos. "The first step is our $100 million YouTube Shorts Fund, which is now available in over 100 countries globally," said Philipp Schindler, Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer.
"Over 40 per cent of creators who will receive payment from the Shorts Funds in 2021 weren't in the YouTube Partner Programme, just as an interesting number," he informed. Google is currently testing ads on Shorts with products like app install and video action campaigns and is encouraged by the early results. "We are deeply committed to supporting the next generation of mobile creators here on YouTube and are very actively working on what monetisation could look like in the future," the company said. In the first quarter, Going added new capabilities to video editing, and "we are continuing to invest in making Shorts a fantastic experience for creators and viewers alike," said Pichai. In the year ahead, "we will give YouTube's connected TV viewers new smartphone control navigation and interactivity features, allowing people to comment and share content they are watching on television directly from their devices," Pichai informed.