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“Google’s YouTube Shorts Surpasses 2 Billion Monthly Users, Raising Concerns About Long-Form Content”
Google recently revealed that YouTube Shorts has achieved over 2 billion monthly logged-in users, a significant increase from the 1.5 billion announced in 2022. While this milestone sets YouTube Shorts ahead of competitors like TikTok and Instagram Reels, it also raises concerns for the platform. According to a Financial Times report quoting company sources, Shorts might impact the core, long-form video business of Google’s video streaming platform.
The report suggests that the short-video platform Shorts could potentially “cannibalize” its core business. Recent YouTube strategy meetings have discussed the possibility that long-form videos, which generate more revenue for the company, may be declining as a format. This decline could be attributed to a reduced demand from consumers and a preference from brands for short-form content for product placement.
The YouTube team believes that Shorts was initially designed to complement other formats used by creators on the platform, such as audio and livestreams, rather than directly compete with them. As Shorts gains popularity, YouTube must invest in creators and encourage them to produce exclusive content for the platform. Simultaneously, the company is working on strategies to boost ad revenue from Shorts, as advertising was introduced on the platform late last year.
YouTube’s ad revenue had experienced a year-over-year decline for three consecutive quarters but showed signs of improvement in the last quarter. In the second quarter of 2023, Google reported that YouTube generated $7.67 billion in advertising revenue, a 4 percent increase compared to the same period the previous year. Overall, Google reported positive quarterly results, with growth in ad and cloud revenues, bringing in $74.6 billion for the quarter ending June, up from $69.7 billion in Q2 2022.
