Susan Wojcicki, chief executive officer of YouTube.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
YouTube’s short-form video feature Shorts, which aims to compete with TikTok, is achieving 3.5 billion views per day during its early test run in India, the company said Tuesday.
YouTube does not reveal detailed statistics for the service overall, but has said that 2 billion logged-in users visit every month, and that people watch a billion hours of video on the service every day.
The latest metric comes as Google-owned YouTube said it is looking to expand Shorts to more markets in 2021, according to a blog post YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki published Tuesday morning.
The company unveiled an early beta of Shorts in India in September. Shorts will be part of the YouTube app and looks a lot like TikTok, with an option to add music, change the speed of the video and more. But video length is capped at just 15 seconds. TikTok videos can be up to a minute long.
Wojcicki also said the following in her letter:
- Regulation will be a significant focus in 2021. She noted that there’s been a lot of talk about reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects companies from liability for the content that their users post, but also noted that Democrats and Republicans in Congress differ on what should be done.
- The fastest-growing “screen” for YouTube viewership is the TV.
- E-commerce is a growing focus for YouTube as well, and the company is beta-testing a program with creators in the beauty and electronics spaces to make it easier for consumers to buy the products they see in videos.
- Over the last three years, the company has paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies.
- This year, the company will start asking creators in the U.S. on a voluntary basis to provide it with their gender, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity. The goal is to ensure fair treatment for creators of different backgrounds when it comes to search results and monetization opportunities.
