YouTube Shorts has taken the online video world by storm since launching in 2020. As YouTube‘s short-form video competitor to TikTok, Shorts has seen massive growth and engagement. In this in-depth post, we‘ll explore the key YouTube Shorts statistics and trends you need to know in 2024.
Massive Daily Viewership
One of the most staggering YouTube Shorts stats is its daily viewership. As of 2022, Shorts was generating over 50 billion views per day. To put that in perspective, that‘s nearly double the number of views that legacy YouTube receives per day. This showcases the incredible popularity of short videos.
The majority of Shorts views come from mobile. As videos are capped at 60 seconds, people are watching Shorts constantly on-the-go from their smartphones.
More Time Spent Watching
Recent data shows that the average Shorts viewer spends over 52 minutes per day watching short videos on YouTube. That’s more time spent than on competitors like Instagram Reels and TikTok.
Creators have welcomed Shorts as well. Videos between 16 to 60 seconds make up over 70% of all Shorts. So creators enjoy having flexibility in how long their short video content can be.
Key Countries Driving Viewership
YouTube has an established global audience, which has fueled Shorts‘ growth worldwide. The countries generating the most Shorts views include:
- India: 25.6%
- United States: 23.4%
- Brazil: 7.6%
- Indonesia: 6.3%
India especially has seen massive engagement, with thousands of channels focused on producing Hindi and regional language Shorts.
Monetization Opportunities
Unlike Tiktok, YouTube Shorts allows creators to monetize videos through YouTube’s Partner Program. To incentivize more high-quality short videos, YouTube has invested over $100 million into a Shorts Fund.
Top creators can earn between $100-$10,000 per month through the fund based on their viewership and content. This gives financial viability to produce more engaging Shorts.
YouTube also heavily monetizes Shorts through video ads. Shorts accounted for $7 billion in YouTube ad revenue in Q3 2021 alone—a massive portion of revenue.
More Interactive Features
YouTube keeps adding more interactive features to Shorts to increase engagement. This includes:
- Text-to-speech comments so creators can hear feedback
- Green screen and multi-segment recording options
- Adding links and hashtags
- Remixing audio from other Shorts
These innovations will likely contribute to Shorts‘ continued growth in 2024 and beyond.
Shorts Here to Stay
In under 2 years, Shorts has managed to disrupt the online video landscape in a huge way. With over 50 billion daily views and counting, Shorts represents the future of entertainment for younger audiences. For creators and brands, Shorts provides an exciting new canvas and huge potential audience.
The key statistics show that Shorts has already transformed YouTube and will continue seeing massive growth. This short-form video movement shows no signs of slowing down.
