YouTube said it is starting a $100 million fund for creators of video "Shorts", in order to rival Bytedance Ltd’s TikTok. The fund will encourage current and new users to start creating content on YouTube’s “Shorts”. Youtube also announced on Tuesday that creators of shorts will be paid based on viewership and engagement rather than ad revenue.
The Chinese app, TikTok, has taken people by storm and social media platforms are feeling the pressure. Snap Inc has introduced a similar feature to its app called “Snapshot” in 2020 where users can create TikTok-like videos. The company had also announced that it would pay $1 million a day to creators of top-performing posts. Similarly, Facebook Inc, which also includes Instagram, copied features of TikTok and introduced more ads on shorter videos.
Part of the success of TikTok is the ease of shooting footage. Users on TikTok can easily create short videos from their smartphones. To counter that, YouTube is making the Shorts feature more accessible. This will include adding a shorts tab in the bottom row of the app, the ability to remix audios from videos on YouTube, adding captions to video shorts, and more.
References:
1) Bergen, M. (2021, May 11). YouTube Puts $100 Million Into Creator Fund to Rival TikTok. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-11/youtube-puts-100-million-into-creator-fund-to-rival-tiktok
2) Solsman, J. E. (2021, May 11). YouTube will pay $100M to people posting To Shorts, ITS Tiktok rival. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-will-pay-100m-to-people-posting-shorts-its-tiktok-rival/
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