YouTube continues to dominate the video world, even on the short format. While TikTok recently surpassed one billion users, Google has just announced that its YouTube Shorts alternative has reached 1.5 billion users. The showdown between the two platforms is therefore still far from over.
TikTok undeniably shook up the microcosm of social networks when it exploded with the general public in 2020. The competition then discovered the incredible enthusiasm of Internet users for short videos and has since been trying to reproduce the phenomenon. Instagram has its Reels, YouTube has its Shorts. Introduced in 2020, it is in 2021 that the platform is made available to all users.
If one would have thought that users would shun this pale copy of TikTok, it was without counting on the undisputed reign of YouTube on the video. Quickly, an unprecedented arm wrestling started between the two services, each regularly overtaking the other. TikTok exceeds one billion users last September? Never mind, YouTube Shorts now has 1.5 billion users.
YouTube Shorts and TikTok are neck and neck
The war is therefore far from won for TikTok, which can however boast of making the greatest tremble. YouTube can count on its community of committed users by offering a multitude of content that adapts to everyone’s desires. TikTok, for its part, is trying to fill this void by planning to increase the length of its videos up to 10 minutes.
Especially since this is not the only weak point of the Chinese social network against its rival. Since its arrival, TikTok has been widely criticized for the remuneration granted to its creators, well below what is practiced on YouTube. The latter understood this well and quickly decided to release 100 million dollars to return advertising revenue to its users.
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Admittedly, this sum can be debated when compared to the 8.6 billion in advertising revenue generated by the platform in 2021, but it is clear that the effort is already greater than that of TikTok. From there to pushing TikTok creators to YouTube Shorts, there’s still a big step to take.