YouTube’s TikTok rival Shorts surpasses five trillion views

YouTube numbers are on the kick with YouTube Shorts now over five trillion views, according to new stats revealed by CEO Susan Wojcicki in an open letter to creators.

She also pointed out that last year, YouTube hit 50 million music and premium subscribers including trailers, and paid $4 billion to the music industry over the previous 12 months.

“The past few years have been a transition for all of us,” Wojcicki said.

“We’ve adapted to changes in our lives we couldn’t have imagined before the pandemic.

“Along the way, we’ve seen incredible growth… Creators are coming to our platform to share their lives, to make a living, and to shape the world around us in meaningful ways.”

YouTube Shorts, which hit the Indian market in 2020 in response to TikTok, reached 15 billion daily views in mid-2021 when it launched in Australia as part of a roll-out to 100 countries.

These figures are feel-good branding for YouTube, but creators are asking about their earnings.

It introduced the Shorts Fund program to pay creators US$10 million over 2021-2022, which is capped at $10,000 per creator per month.

Last October YouTube hinted it was working on new ways for uploaders to make money.

Wojcicki’s letter revealed YouTube is “testing out new ways for Shorts creators to build branded content through BrandConnect”, its program that matches creators with brands.

Significantly, 40% of those paid from the fund are not in the YouTube Partner Program.

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of channels earning over $10,000 a year had risen by 40%.

According to a 2021 report from UK independent consulting firm Oxford Economics, the number of Aussie YouTube channels making over five figures is up more than 30% year on year.

It said YouTube supports 15,750 local jobs and contributes A$608 million to the economy.

In 2022, YouTube is focussed on NFTs, Web3, cryptocurrencies and decentralized organizations, saying they “highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity” for creators and their fans.

YouTube will also tap into opportunities in areas like podcasting, which enable creators to monetise and expand the reach of their distribution.

Other plans for this year include hiring more staffers to communicate with creators about policy violations, expanding live shopping streams through partnerships with platforms like Shopify, and introducing more features around educational content.