YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has provided an overview of the site’s key areas of focus for 2022 – and no surprise – it includes plenty on where it intends to take its short-form product, Shorts.

YouTube says Shorts has now passed the five trillion view mark, which shows how important it’s become to the platform. It’s no shock that YouTube has tried to come down hard on TikTok muscling in on its online video space, and it intends to do so by becoming the destination of choice for creators.

Impressive growth

YouTube Shorts is the primary way YouTube has decided to take on TikTok at its own game – and it seems to be gaining some traction.

40% of creators who received pay-outs from the Shorts Fund weren’t in YouTube’s Partner program, suggesting that it’s attractive new and exciting creators to the platform.

Some context might be helpful here. YouTube Shorts is the platform’s way of combating the rise of TikTok. It’s been successful, with over 6.5 billion views in the USA as of March 2021 and over 3.5 billion cumulative daily views in India.

It’s now in over 100 countries – and if you’re not getting involved, you should reconsider. Any brand that wants to target a younger audience should have a short-form video content plan. Still, YouTube’s popularity among most demographics means Shorts is perfect for almost every industry.

That means a B2B brand can find its audience on Shorts as easily as a clothing brand targeting teenagers.

As a nice little bonus, YouTube is also far more unlikely to be the subject of government takedowns – like TikTok has been. Yet.

A big 2022

As always, YouTube has a few cards up its sleeve this year. It will develop a new remix feature, which will work like TikTok’s Duets or Instagram’s rather unfortunately named Remix.

The Shorts Fund will continue to support new creators revenue earning possibilities, while BrandConnect will help match brands with creators – further broadening the money-spinning possibilities of the app.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube

“Last year, we started rolling out a new remix feature that lets you create Shorts using audio from other YouTube videos. In the months ahead we’ll expand this capability with even more exciting ways to remix YouTube’s content.

And we’re giving creators ways to make money on Shorts through the Shorts Fund, which is now available in more than 100 countries. The Shorts Fund is helping to enable new creators.”

A supportive ecosystem

As well as developing Shorts further, YouTube will look to expand its creator ecosystem in 2022. It’s already seen growth in the number of creators making $10,000 a year (up 40%) and boasts about having multiple potential revenue streams.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube

“Now there are 10 ways for creators to make money on YouTube. Last year, YouTube Channel Memberships and paid digital goods were purchased or renewed more than 110 million times.”

YouTube also plans to embrace the world of Web3 via crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and maybe decentralised autonomous organisations as a way to make YouTube a better place for creators and watchers.

Additionally, YouTube is working on integrating shopping with Shorts.

Shopping + Shorts = Bliss

Creating a better environment for creators, and providing them with more tools to earn money from the platform, can be good for businesses. It will provide a different outlet for creative campaigns that have the potential to reach a far larger audience because where creators flock, an audience will follow.

Shopping on Shorts should interest marketers as it will expand how brands can partner with creators.

Shoppable videos mean referral campaigns can be developed and launched – and as YouTube is a place for every demographic, there should always be a creator in your field that can be partnered with.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube

“More and more, we see creators going live to review products, drop new merch, and discuss their shopping hauls.

Creator Simply Nailogical used our newest live shopping tools to launch her latest nail polish collection last summer. By making her videos shoppable and tagging her newest products, fans were able to collectively explore the collection live and shop without having to leave the stream.”

YouTube’s commitment to being the best place creators can publish content means businesses need to look into their strategy for the site. More creators on YouTube means it will attract a bigger audience, who will be influenced by live shopping hauls, YouTube Shorts and such-like.