YouTube Shorts

docking at the ISS in a format suitable for YouTube Shorts YouTube's intent in the creation of YouTube Shorts in 2019 was to compete with TikTok, This early beta was released only to a small number of people. Shortly after TikTok was banned in India on June 29, 2020, the YouTube Shorts beta was made available in India on September 15, 2020. In August 2022, YouTube announced plans to make the Shorts feature available on its smart TV app. YouTube also began highlighting Shorts separately in its year-end summaries, indicating the feature's growing prominence. At the annual Made on YouTube event in New York on September 21, 2023, Google announced YouTube Create, a video editing app designed for YouTube creators, to facilitate the growth of Shorts. At launch, the app is available on Android and an iOS version released in December 2025. In September 2024, YouTube announced that Shorts would be able to be up to 3 minutes, and from then on all vertical videos 3 minutes of length or shorter would be turned into Shorts. In March 2025, TikTok users tried to create a trend planning to "colonize" YouTube Shorts on March 25, due to a phenomenon known as "meme drought". In 2025, YouTube began applying AI filters, without user permission, on videos uploaded to YouTube Shorts. In October 2025, YouTube App introduced an option to set a daily limit for amount of time user views YouTube Shorts feed, ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours. This option is limited only to YouTube mobile app and not available on the web site. In April 2026, YouTube expanded the Shorts feed limit feature to allow setting a 0 minute limit. This option prevents user from viewing any content in the Shorts section, but does not hide it completely. ==Features==

YouTube Shorts presents user-generated vertical or square videos up to 180 seconds long. It allows users to add licensed music and on-screen captions. Viewers can scroll through an endless feed of videos algorithmically tailored for the user. Although intended to be watched on smartphones, YouTube Shorts can be viewed on all other devices. YouTube Shorts includes features that are similar to those of TikTok, such as live videos, "collabs", easy editing tools, and playlists. It also includes tools that edit long-form YouTube videos into YouTube Shorts. Shorts creators can also use stickers to interact with their audience through formats such as Q&As. Many use TikTok's tools instead, though videos with TikTok branding are downgraded from YouTube's platform. YouTube Shorts added a feature that sends default reminders to users ages 13 to 17 to take a break or go to bed due to the increase in young users. There is currently no measure to restrict the use of the application. == Usage ==

Since its inception in 2019, the usage of YouTube Shorts has continuously increased. In September 2022, Alphabet announced that YouTube Shorts generated over 30 billion views daily. ==Monetization==

In August 2021, YouTube released the YouTube Shorts fund, a system in which the top Shorts creators could get paid for their work. YouTube described this as a way to "monetize and reward creators for their content" and said it would be a $100 million fund distributed throughout 2021 and 2022, similar to TikTok's $1 billion creator fund. YouTube told The Hollywood Reporter that the fund is "just a stopgap until YouTube develops a long-term monetization and support tool for short-form creators". In September 2022, YouTube announced that Shorts would become part of the YouTube Partner Program starting in February 2023. The program allows eligible creators to receive a share of the ad revenue. YouTube Shorts creators receive a percentage of ad money earned on ads that play before and after their videos similar to YouTube. Creators on YouTube Shorts earn 45 percent of the ad money, while creators on YouTube earn 55 percent. According to the YouTube policies, creators who upload content with some degree of copyright infringement, non-original content, or other violations of the community guidelines will not be eligible for monetization. == Health risks ==

Researchers from the Guizhou University of Finance and Economics and Western Michigan University found that short-form video platforms like YouTube Shorts and TikTok may make it easier for young adults and children to develop addictive behavior because short-form videos provide "short bursts of thrills." These researchers found that college students in the US and China watch short-form videos for entertainment, knowledge, and to build social identities. The rapid and easily consumable nature of short-form videos can elicit high levels of dopamine; since dopamine serves as a motivator rather than a direct source of pleasure, individuals are compelled to seek rewarding activities and become addicted to them. Such neurochemical responses lead to addictive patterns and behaviors, entering a vicious cycle. Digital addiction can lead to shorter attention spans and slower cognitive processing. ==See also==