Digital Desk: As it faces increasing competition from TikTok, YouTube has unveiled a new way for creators to make money from short video.
The Google-owned streaming service announced on Tuesday that it
would begin displaying advertisements on its video feature Shorts and would
give video creators 45% of the revenue.
This compares to TikTok's standard distribution of 55% for
videos other than Shorts, as well as TikTok's $1 billion fund for compensating
creators.
Kris Collins, a hairstylist turned YouTube creator known as
Kallmekris, praised YouTube for allowing revenue sharing for Shorts.
"Other platforms are focused on getting people their 15
seconds of fame," she explained. "YouTube, on the other hand, is
taking a different approach. They assist creators in producing content in a
variety of formats."
The internet's most popular video site has struggled to compete
with TikTok, the app that began by hosting lip-sync and dance videos and has
since grown to 1 billion monthly users.
In late 2020, YouTube responded with Shorts, minute-long videos
that have over 1.5 billion monthly viewers.
In an effort to retain talent, YouTube established a $100
million fund in April to entice creators to create bite-sized videos.
According to Vice President Tara Walpert Levy, YouTube is
sharing a smaller percentage of sales with Shorts creators to offset its
significant investment in developing the feature.
Google generated $14.2 billion in YouTube ad sales in the first
half of this year, representing a 9% increase over the same period in 2021.
However, the most recent quarterly ad sales showed the slowest growth since data disclosure began three years ago. Although global economic factors are at work, financial analysts believe TikTok is also a factor.
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