“More people are creating content on YouTube than ever before. We’re seeing momentum across the platform, including on Shorts. We’ve now hit 5 trillion all time views on Shorts!” the company said in a blog post (via 9to5Google). YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki provided additional details on the success of Shorts while also detailing the platform’s roadmap for 2022. This includes a renewed focus on cryptocurrency and NFTs, with previous reports suggesting a growing interest from the company in these sectors. “The past year in the world of crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and even decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) has highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans,” Wojcicki said. “We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs, while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube.”
YouTube Shorts’ success can be attributed to its availability within the main YouTube app
YouTube Shorts was only available in select regions when it launched in 2020, eventually expanding to more regions. One of its key advantages is that it is embedded within the YouTube app. This allows existing users of the streaming platform to check out Shorts content without leaving the app. Wojcicki went on to say that the Remix feature on Shorts is getting an upgrade later this year. Additionally, the platform is also coming up with new avenues to monetize Shorts. This would be in addition to the “Shorts Fund” set up by the company in more than 100 countries and BrandConnect. The latter is YouTube’s program that “matches creators with brands.” The CEO also addressed the widespread displeasure with the removal of dislike counts. “Some of you mentioned dislikes helped you decide what videos to watch. However, people dislike videos for many reasons, including some that have nothing to do with the video, which means it’s not always an accurate way to select videos to watch,” Wojcicki said.
