YouTube announces the arrival of the beta version of YouTube Shorts in Singapore, the company’s new short-form video experience to create short, catchy videos from mobile phones.
First announced in September 2020, YouTube has since expanded Shorts to 26 countries and will now be available across more than 100 countries around the world where YouTube is available.
While short-form videos were already viewable on the platform, users around the world will be able to access for the first time Shorts’ creation tools which include a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music, control speed settings, and more.
In addition, and time with the product’s international expansion, YouTube Shorts brings a new set of features such as:
- Add text to specific points in your video
- Automatically add captions to your Short
- Record up to 60 seconds with the Shorts camera
- Add clips from your phone’s gallery to add to your recordings made with the Shorts camera
- Add basic filters to color correct your Shorts, with more effects to come in the future
The new features also include the ability to sample audio from videos all across YouTube. This means that users can give their own creative spin on the content they love to watch on YouTube and help find a new audience.
Creators will be in control and will be able to opt-out if they don’t want their long-form video remixed.
YouTube already introduced a row on the YouTube homepage especially for Shorts that lets you easily swipe vertically from one video to the next, and will soon add a Shorts tab on mobile that makes it easier for users to watch Shorts with a single tap.
With Shorts being a new way to watch and create on YouTube, the company has been looking at various ways to monetize Shorts and reward creators for their content, including the recently announced YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100M fund distributed from 2021- 2022.
The Shorts beta is rolling out globally and will be available to everybody soon.
