YouTube to rival TikTok with short-bite feature ‘Shorts’?

YouTube is looking to ride the coattails of TikTok’s recent success by launching its own video-bite feature in 2020. 

It’s fair to say YouTube is getting a little greedy taking names in 2020. Despite sitting atop the podium of biggest video platforms (and second in the most visited site), pipping Twitch to exclusive rights over all Activision Esports events, and boasting an astronomical turnaround of $15 billion in the 2019 fiscal year, CEO Susan Wojcicki now has TikTok in her cross-hairs. And she reportedly wants a piece of its 800 million monthly users. 

With nearly 2 billion downloads, TikTok has become the launchpad for memes and internet culture in 2020. The platform showed immense promise after ByteDance debuted it in their home nation of China in 2017, but few predicted its permeation into the US market in 2018 would propel its viewership beyond the likes of Snapchat. Vine’s closure in 2016 left a huge void for creators wanting to make short snappy video-bites, and TikTok jumped in its grave to really own that space. 

Many have tried to get a piece of the action in the last few years. Facebook launched Lasso in 2018 and Vine’s co-founder Dom Hofmann even re-entered the ring with Byte, but no one has come anywhere near rivalling TikTok and its levels of success. 

However, if anyone has the credentials to pose a real threat to the short-form Sheriff it’s YouTube with Shorts. We haven’t heard much about it at all, but according to The Information, this new feature will exist within YouTube’s mobile app and will mimic TikTok’s short-bite formula, acting as an alternative to vlogs and long-form videos on YouTube.