YouTube added Shorts to its platform in 2020 after seeing the success of TikTok. Since then, YouTube has been constantly thinking about new ways to compete for short video views. This week, YouTube announced changes to its platform that will encourage creators to create more short films on the app.
Last September, YouTube announced that content creators could monetize their shorts through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Well, the time has come. The YouTube Short Film Foundation is a thing of the past. Shorts are now included in the YPP program, allowing channels to earn money from ads shown between shorts.
To take advantage of these changes, creators will need to sign a new YPP agreement by July 10th. Once the new contract is signed, creators will have access to a new revenue stream starting February 23rd. If the contract is signed after this date, the new revenue stream starts on the date of acceptance.
Selecting a thumbnail for short films
New creators who have not previously participated in YPP are now also eligible if they have 1,000 subscribers and 10 million views of eligible shorts in the last 90 days. A much-requested update has also been made to the download process.
Creators will now be able to select a thumbnail for shorts by selecting an image from the video to serve as the cover for the short. Prior to this update, YouTube would randomly select a frame from a video, resulting in clumsy or misleading thumbnails. This thumbnail picker feature will only be available on Android, but YouTube is working on making it available on iOS.
YouTube has also improved its analytics to make it easier for creators to understand the results of the content they publish. On the Studio Content Analytics tab, creators will see a new card with a breakdown of subscribers by content type. Prior to this update, only views by content type were available.
Creators will also have access to data about what content their audience is watching by content type in the mobile studio. Finally, the content length will be available in YouTube Analytics Advanced Mode, which usually only displays the video titles. This advanced analytics will help creators understand where their audience is coming from and adjust accordingly.
Source: “.com”