The exploded popularity of TikTok made every possible head turned. However, after TikTok ran into hot water, the race to capture the abandoned market that holds millions of users worldwide has begun. After Facebook and Microsoft, it’s time for YouTube to make an attempt to fill the void in India.
YouTube has announced the launch of YouTube Shorts, a TikTok like short video experience to lure millions of TikTok users who are yet to find TikTok alternative as enticing as TikTok.
In a blog post, YouTube has announced that the YouTube Short will allow users to create short videos with 15 seconds duration. YouTube has also added a lot many features that help creators make such short videos in a quick session without much of hiccups.
With YouTube Shorts, the popular video-sharing platform is apparently trying to compete with Facebook owned Instagram, which has launched a similar feature called Instagram Reels quite recently.
YouTube is apparently banking upon 2 billion users who visit the platform every month. The increased popularity of TikTok in record time is a testimony to the fact that the short duration video is a hot favourite among the mobile generation who like to capture and carry their digital world with them.
To make it more adaptable, YouTube has introduced a slew of new camera features as well.
“We want to enable the next generation of mobile creators to also grow a community on YouTube with Shorts. It will have a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together as well as the option to record with music from a large library of songs that will continue to grow. It will also have speed controls that will give the user flexibility to be creative with their performance and a timer and countdown to easily record hands-free,” the blogpost said.
YouTube has planned to expand the services to other countries soon based on the response it will receive in India.
In June, after the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps along with TikTok, a lot many homegrown players jumped to capture the market that TikTok created over the years. While TikTok tried to negotiate with the Indian government in order to get the ban revoked, Facebook launched Reels – an identical short video feature to make the most of the situation.
While Facebook Instagram was quick to attract the eyeballs of all TikTok Stars and Celebrities, homegrown players like Chingari, Roposo and few others are also not leaving any stone unturned to grab a sizeable share of Indian market.
With YouTube is joining the competition, it would be interesting to see which platform TikTok users find more alluring and get glued with that.
What is your take on YouTube Shorts? Do you think it would be able to give Facebook, along with other competitors, run for their money in India?
Do let us know your views in the comment section below.