On the surface, the premise of YouTube Shorts is fairly simple: vertical videos that are less than 60 seconds. However, the Shorts platform largely functions as its own ecosystem despite being a part of the main YouTube app. Now, the company is making some changes that reflect that reality — including making Shorts a little less short.
Starting with the biggest news, beginning October 15th, YouTube Shorts can have a maximum runtime of three minutes (as opposed to the previous one-minute cap). Despite this change, previously uploaded videos will not be impacted and the Shorts label will still only apply to videos that are “square or taller in aspect ratio.” In other words, just because you’re a creator who makes videos that are under three minutes doesn’t mean they’ll automatically be classified as Shorts. With this update, YouTube says that they’ll also be working to “improve recommendations for longer Shorts.” Sidenote: just the phrase “longer Shorts” makes me laugh.
At the risk of going full “old man yells at cloud” mode, I have to say that I don’t get Shorts — at least in the creator sense. Previously, I participated in a 30-day Shorts challenge in which I posted a new video every day for a month. That experiment taught me a few things. But, mainly, I came away from it thinking that the format wasn’t really for me. After all, I don’t really watch many Shorts myself (and never in the actual Shorts feed), so I don’t have a good grasp on what I think would work well in that medium. Plus, the monetization of Shorts honestly confuses me, so I’d rather stick with what I know.
Given these factors, when I launched my second channel, Fioney News, I made a point to still have it be a “long form” channel even if I could have fit some of the topics into a Short format (and could almost definitely do so for most of my news videos now that the time limit has increased). This leads me to believe that YouTube Shorts aren’t just short YouTube videos… even if, in the literal sense, they are. Instead, YouTube Shorts seems to have its own culture and trends aside from the rest of the platform.
Of course, that likely also means it has its own niches — and that’s where I think there’s great opportunity for creators. Now that they have up to three minutes of runtime, perhaps we will see new types of content coming to Shorts, including some that might not have previously found a home there. Heck, that’s true of TikTok (where videos can run up to 10 minutes from what I’m told) as there are plenty of personal finance creators who have managed to do well there.
As for viewers, those who don’t really care for Shorts will be happy to know that YouTube will also be giving users greater customization options. This includes a “Show fewer Shorts” option (shout out to YouTube for the proper grammar there). That said, after selecting this, YouTube says it will only “temporarily” show you fewer Shorts. I’m unclear on how long we’re talking, but the point is that Shorts haters should get some reprieve.
Speaking of Shorts haters, lest I sound like one, let me be clear that I wish I were more interested in them. I’m sincere in thinking that this new time allotment increase could be a great boon for creators — and, thus, I wish I were better equipped to take advantage of it myself. Alas, as Money@30 is nearly Money@40, I just don’t see that happening. But, for those with more of a pulse on the Shorts community, hopefully this turns out to be a big win.