YouTube Shorts Goes Long

YouTube is following in the footsteps of TikTok and Instagram and allowing longer videos in its Shorts feed. From October 15th you will be able to upload ‘Shorts’ to YouTube that are up to 3 minutes long (previously capped at 59 seconds). 

A ‘Short’ Recap

YouTube Shorts was officially launched to the public on July 13, 2021, after a beta testing phase that began in India on September 14, 2020, this was then released to America and Europe in 2021. 

The Shorts feed was initially criticised as YouTube trying to keep up with competitor TikTok who dominated with short form videos at the time. However since then the shorts platform has become a successful video platform sharing vertical videos up to 59 seconds long, building community and getting excellent brand reach.

Since its launch, YouTube Shorts has been very successful with over 5 trillion videos worldwide, and over 2 billion logged in users a month. In October 2023, Shorts were receiving over 70 billion views daily.

YouTube has also developed their monetisation strategies for Shorts for creators. Initially, a $100 million Shorts Fund was introduced to reward creators, which later evolved into integrating Shorts into the YouTube Partner Program in February 2023. We have now seen creators earning 5 – 6 figures a month in shorts views alone. 

The Pros and Cons of Longer Shorts

With any significant change to a platform marketers will chime in with thoughts and predictions of the pros and cons of the changes. 

Predictably we have looked at a few ways creators and brands may benefit from longer shorts and also a few potential issues. 

Yeah! Longer Shorts…

• Enhanced storytelling – Creators will have more flexibility to delve deeper into their topics and create more engaging content, Brands will have more time to drive the message home. 
• Better tutorials – The longer format allows for more complex narratives and detailed explanations.
• Improved flexibility – you will have the option for shorter length videos to now be in the shorts feed instead of potentially underperforming with short watch time in the normal YouTube platform.
• Alignment with competitors: YouTube Shorts can now compete more directly with platforms like TikTok and Instagram and this will also make cross platform posting of content a bit easier for creators and brands. 

Potential Negatives of longer shorts – boo!

• Potential attention span issues – Some viewers may find it challenging to engage with longer short-form content.
• Increased production time – Creators may need to invest more time and resources into producing longer videos.
• Platform identity shift – The change could blur the lines between Shorts and traditional YouTube videos.

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Impact on Creator Revenue and RPMs

Whilst brands may not be interested in monetisation of their content, many creators will be looking at the changes to the short platform in terms of income. The extension to 3-minute Shorts could significantly affect creator revenue and RPMs (Revenue Per Mille):

• Increased monetisation opportunities – Longer videos provide more space for ad placements, potentially boosting revenue for creators.
• Higher engagement rates – If viewers watch longer videos to completion, it could lead to improved RPMs.
• Algorithmic changes – YouTube is working on improving recommendations for longer Shorts, which could impact visibility and, consequently, revenue.

Brand/Business Implications

Longer Shorts won’t just affect creators, there are some opportunities for brands.

• Enhanced brand storytelling – Companies will have more time to showcase products or services in depth.
• Increased production costs – Businesses may need to allocate more resources to create high-quality, longer-form content.
• Competitive advantage – Early adopters of the 3-minute format could gain an edge in reaching and engaging audiences.

Do People Even Want Longer Shorts? 

Something we hear a lot is that short form content is successful because people have lower attention spans, however we also see a huge appetite for long form content and binge watching. Many YouTube videos over 30 minutes are doing very well so it is wrong to assume users JUST want quick dopamine hits from short form content. 

The reality of user behaviour is a lot more nuanced than this. 

The current digital age, people are inundated with content; multiple platforms and notifications mean that people don’t necessarily choose to sit and watch something but have it readily available and intrude upon our lives regularly. 

This is a lot to take in and in many cases sensory overload or a time drain, it is because of this we are seeing people, especially Millennials and Gen Z, become less tolerant of bad content. If content hasn’t captured their attention quickly, they know something better is coming, so they ignore and disengage. They put boundaries on their time and only respond to good content, whether this is short form or long form. 

Short form tends to have a higher tolerance due to the expectation it will only take a minute to watch, but when your audience likes your content they will happily join your community, and binge watch your content. 

Key points:

• Quality over quantity: Viewers have a low tolerance for poor content but will still engage with longer, high-quality material
• Binge-watching phenomenon: Despite the abundance of short-form content, people continue to binge-watch longer shows and videos.
• Personalised content consumption: The key is delivering relevant, engaging content that resonates with individual viewers.

Additional Features and Improvements

YouTube is introducing several other enhancements to complement the longer video format:

• A new Shorts trends page on mobile to help users discover popular content
• Templates to help creators easily participate in trends and remix popular Shorts.
• Integration of Google DeepMind’s Veo generative AI video model for creating extraordinary video backgrounds and standalone clips.

As YouTube Shorts evolves, both creators and businesses must adapt their strategies to make the most of the new 3-minute format. By focusing on producing high-quality, engaging content, you can potentially see improved engagement and revenue.

Will Longer Shorts Work? 

YouTube understands their audience better than anyone, with billions of users and owned by Google the data they have will have driven this decision, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out. 

Looking at TikTok and Instagram – their 2 biggest short form video content competitors there is mixed results on the longer content and optimal video lengths. 

TikTok

Current Length Options – TikTok videos can range from 3 seconds to 30 minutes, with the maximum length depending on the region. However, the most effective lengths for engagement tend to be shorter.

Research shows that videos between 21 to 34 seconds often perform well. Additionally, videos longer than 54 seconds have recently garnered higher average views, suggesting a shift towards longer content as users adapt to the platform’s longer content changes, however this may be due to the algorithm pushing longer content. 

While shorter videos (under 10 seconds) may achieve higher full watch rates, longer videos (2-3 minutes) tend to attract more views overall, this shows a complicated relationship between length and viewer engagement on the platform.

Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels allows videos up to 90 seconds long however you can unlock reels up to 3 minutes.

While specific ideal lengths are less frequently discussed compared to TikTok, shorter Reels (around 15-30 seconds) generally do a lot better for quick engagement. 

Instagram encourages concise content that captures attention quickly, aligning with user preferences for rapid consumption.

While TikTok is seeing a trend towards longer videos (up to several minutes), the sweet spot for engagement appears to be around 21 to 34 seconds which is also similar to most YouTube Shorts (higher than this is considered a good retention rate). On Instagram, shorter Reels are preferred, including up to 10 seconds as a fast growing reel trend. This does not work on YouTube as YouTube would see shorter videos as less watch time.