TikTok smiles as YouTube Shorts blushes at 50 billion daily views
This time last year, the video streaming behemoth YouTube cocked in 30 billion daily average views for Shorts. Now, Google (Alphabet) says that YouTube Shorts has reached 50 billion daily views.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet CEO, made the announcement during the company’s 4th quarter earnings call. The development is being hailed as a ‘rare bright spot’ for the quarter that saw a revenue drop in Alphabet’s different segment including Search, YouTube, and advertising.
YouTube Shorts was Google’s answer to the then undisputed short-video king of the world, TikTok. 2021 saw the global rollout of YouTube Shorts when over 100 countries received the update.
This was preceded by Facebook and Instagram Reels, which too rode on the back of the TikTok-style short video craze. Everyone was already making their IG Reels as soon as the feature debuted in late 2019.
Now that YouTube Shorts has touched the impressive 50 billion daily views mark, the number is still dwarfed by Facebook and Instagram Reels, which according to their parent company Meta, has recorded a whopping 140 billion daily views since 2022.
If these numbers make your jaws drop (and drool a little too at the thought of revenues they must generate), think of the short-video titan TikTok that, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, recorded over 900 billion views every day in 2022.
But, it’s still ‘early days’ for YouTube Shorts, according to Google’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, who shared his thoughts with Business Insider.
It’s important to note that just a day before the Shorts multiplied views announcement, YouTube had allowed creators to share ad revenue from short videos with the company.
Once they join the YouTube Partner Program, they will receive a portion of revenue from ads on both long and short videos. This has led some creators to consider moving more content to YouTube Shorts.