Youtube Shorts Getting 3.5 Billion Views Daily! Can It Beat Instagram Reels & Replace TikTok?

It seems that Chinese app TikTok has led to a craze for short video apps.

During beta testing, YouTube Shorts,  the video-sharing website’s quick clips, which is meant to compete with the likes of TikTok, are racking up 3.5 billion views a day in India, as informed by the platform’s head on Tuesday.

Increasing YouTube Shorts Popularity Day By Day

Susan Wojcikci, the CEO of Youtube has explained the feature in a note laying out her 2021 priorities.

She said, “So far, videos in our new Shorts player – which helps people around the world watch short videos on YouTube – are receiving an impressive 3.5 billion daily views!”.

She added, “We’re looking forward to expanding Shorts to more markets this year.”

Being a subsidiary of Google, YouTube unveiled Shorts in mid-September.

They describe the videos as “a new way to express yourself in 15 seconds or less,”.

Currently, the feature is directly integrated into the existing YouTube interface and is only available in India according to the development work.

Competing With TikTok

This seems to be a new format further seen as a way for Google to compete with Gen Z-favourite TikTok.

Tiktok with its huge popularity already has 700 million users worldwide.

Prior to this,the former president Donald Trump had threatened to ban TikTok from the United States as he accused the company, without formal proof, of spying on behalf of Beijing.

TikTok is owned by Chinese group ByteDance.

In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has permanently banned TikTok.

Now, Bytedance has decided to reduce the size of its Indian team which is over 2000 in number.

Other Competing Platforms

Apart from Youtube Shorts, Facebook-owned Instagram also responded to TikTok’s popularity last August with their own short video format known as Reels.

On the other hand, Snapchat also came up with Spotlight in November, which is a public feed of content produced by users.

Comparison Between YouTube Shorts And Instagram Reels

Lets compare the YouTube Shorts with its key rival Instagram on features front  and what one has that is missing in the other.

In terms of speed, both Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts offer users the facility to choose the speed of their videos. 

On one side, Instagram offers 0.3x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, and 4x , while Youtube offers 0.3x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x and 3x.

Both platforms have the feature to set the timer to record any clip hands-free.

In case of Instagram Reels, it allows users to set a timer ranging between 3 to 10 seconds.  

While, the YouTube Shorts allows users to choose between 3 to 10 or 20 seconds timer.

Support in both, have time difference, where ouTube Shorts allows users to create videos of 60 seconds or less in duration.

On the other hand,  Instagram Reels allows users to create videos of only up to 30 seconds.

In terms of alignment support, both Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts allow users to align their clips to facilitate smooth transitions.