Yet again, India is the proving ground for new digital products and formats.
YouTube’s short-form video feature Shorts, achieved 3.5 billion views per day during its early test run in India, the first market where it was released. The company unveiled Shorts in India in September 2020. Shorts is 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 while TikTok videos can be up to a minute long. 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.
On March 18, the company said it’s expanding the Shorts beta to the to the United States over the next several weeks. Globally, users have been able to view Shorts, but not create them. YouTube says its feature allows social media creators to “shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.” It offers a way to string multiple clips together, add music, and use a timer and countdown to record videos hands-free, all features currently available on TikTok. Users will be able to sample audio from other Shorts videos and “remix it into your own creation.” Creators will also be able to add text to specific points of the video.
In reporting the news, CNN Business said YouTube Shorts joins a crowded field of short-form video apps, which are all trying to tap into the craze for bite-sized social media content. Instagram has launched Reels in the United States and other countries and Snapchat’s Spotlight feature is giving away $1 million a day to the users who make the most entertaining videos. Two of TikTok’s rivals in the United States merged earlier this year, while another called Dubsmash was acquired late last year by Reddit.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
