YouTube Shorts, Now in UAE!

YouTube recently announced the beta release of YouTube Shorts in the UAE, much to the delight of the many content creators. This is at a time when TikTok and Instagram Reels have established themselves as masters of short-form video platforms, responsible for the growth of numerous micro and macro influencers across the globe.

How is YouTube Shorts Different from the rest?

While short-form videos are already viewable on YouTube, it is for the first time that the people of UAE get to access Shorts’ creation tools, which include a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music, control speed settings, and more. With this, YouTube has also announced bringing in a new set of features including adding text to specific points in the video; automatically adding captions; recording up to 60 seconds with the Shorts camera; adding clips from your phone’s gallery to your recordings made with the Shorts camera; and adding basic filters to color correct your Shorts. What’s more, the new features also include the ability to sample audio not only from other Shorts but also from videos all across YouTube (and that comes in billions, as we all know)!

Is it important for a brand to be active on Shorts?

YouTube in March 2021 reported 6.5 billion daily views on Shorts, up from 3.5 billion at the end of 2020. With over 2 billion monthly logged in users and over 1 billion hours of video watched every day, YouTube is now offering advertisers efficient reach to large audiences through Shorts. So now you do the math!

It is also worth mentioning that apps like YouTube Shorts must be of particular interest to brands who target the Gen Z or Millennials. It is a known fact that short-form video is surging in popularity, particularly with these generations.

So what must Brands do?

So how can one make the best out of Shorts? Here are a few tips we would like to recommend:

• Optimize Short YouTube Videos by adding “#shorts” in the descriptions of videos that are 60 seconds or less. This can help increase the chances of short videos appearing “on the Shorts shelf of the app.”
• Identify and Create Short-Form Topics
• Understand how your target audience communicates.
• Consider whether creating your own shorts makes sense.
• Adapt your video content strategy for both brief snippets and longer-form content.