YouTube is testing a more aggressive way of presenting "short videos"

Noting the success of the short-format, YouTube is now beginning to promote the display of these “short films” on the web version of the platform.

Whether you like short videos in vertical format or not, YouTube is determined to bring them to you. Indeed, even the web version is starting to give preference to Shorts.

Vertical videos will appear on the web version of YouTube

Following the success of vertical formats TikTok and Instagram, Google quickly responded to competitors by offering vertical videos on YouTube starting in 2020. The social network has now become real television and its popularity is well known. Google recently clarified that 25% of YouTube Partner Program channels make money through this format.

The company also clarifies that short videos are viewed an average of 70 billion times per day. Figures that make our heads spin and encourage YouTube to make us eat a little more. To this end, Google is currently testing the presentation of short formats on the web version of the platform to the right of the video in a horizontal format. As you can see in these images captured by our colleagues at Android Police, three vertical videos appear just below the first in a horizontal format.

Internet videos on YouTube: short films — Source: AndroidPolice

There’s an arrow on the right that encourages you to scroll through short videos. Switching a long video to “Movie Mode” to enlarge it only moves the shorts underneath it. Recommended videos are mostly taken from channels you subscribe to or videos you’ve already watched.

Read: YouTube has a solution to never get bored watching videos again

That’s why YouTube is pushing the vertical format quite aggressively. A way to keep people on the platform a little longer, but which also poses the question of monetization for creators. In fact, they probably make more money from advertising classic videos and sponsors than they do from short videos. I’m not sure this shift will benefit them since YouTube retains control over monetization on its platform.