Senior YouTube staff claim that long-form videos, which bring more ad revenue, are dying out due to Shorts, the platform’s TikTok rival short video stream. (YouTube)

YouTube Staff Fear Short Videos Could Harm Long-Form Content

YouTube launched its experimental vertical scrolling short video stream, known as Shorts, in September 2020. It was globally launched in July 2021, possibly in response to competition from TikTok. The company has made significant improvements to Shorts over the past two years, including the addition of monetization through ads. However, there are concerns among senior staff that Shorts could negatively impact the company’s original business.

According to a report in The Financial Times, some veteran employees have expressed concern at recent strategy meetings at YouTube that long-form videos, which generate more ad revenue for the company, are “dying” as the user base shifts toward short. video format.

Shorts, which now has over 2 billion users, is pulling away viewers of longer video formats. The popularity of shorts, or the short video format, has skyrocketed with the explosive growth of smartphones in the hinterlands of developing countries, with the popularity of TikTok and the desire of younger users.

Shorts can kill YouTube’s long videos

But while engagement still remains within the platform, this isn’t an ideal scenario for YouTube. The reason is simple. In one long video, the platform can insert ads several times, which increases advertising revenue, but due to the Shorts format, it is not possible to repeat the same in short video streams.

This becomes a long-term concern. YouTube’s ad revenue has been growing recently, but has been on the decline for the past three quarters, according to a report by The Verge. The problem has become more complex as the success of Shorts has also led content creators to download less long videos and focus more on uploading short video formats.

YouTube’s predicament is unique and new, and how it solves it—either by finding new revenue streams for Shorts and allowing long videos to decline, or by encouraging long-form content—will be a case study for many other video hosting and streaming services. platforms in the future.