YouTube on Thursday unveiled a series of updates aimed at enhancing its YouTube Shorts product, to better compete with TikTok. These new features include longer video uploads of up to three minutes, improved Shorts player design, templates for easy trend participation, and a new Shorts trends page for mobile users.

Key Updates:

  • Longer Videos: Creators can now upload Shorts up to three minutes, an increase from the previous limit of 60 seconds, bringing it closer to TikTok’s extended video lengths of up to 60 minutes for uploads.
  • Shorts Player Redesign: The new Shorts player streamlines the display by moving interaction buttons like share and comment to the side, allowing for a more immersive video experience. The creator’s name and video details are also compressed, though the description will now be truncated, requiring users to tap “more” to see the full text.
  • Trend-Friendly Templates: To encourage trend participation, YouTube has added a Remix option, letting users easily create their own videos using a template from other Shorts. This will eventually be integrated directly into the Shorts camera, simplifying remixing clips from favourite videos or music.
  • New Trends Page: Unlike TikTok’s former Discover page, YouTube Shorts will feature a Trends page to help users stay on top of trending content in their region. This is aimed at inspiring creators to jump on what’s popular in their country.
  • Comment Previews: Soon, users will be able to preview comments directly from the Shorts feed, encouraging more interaction and possibly driving creators to produce “reaction-worthy” content for higher engagement.
  • Shorts Feed Control: Users can now customize their Shorts feed by selecting “Show fewer Shorts” from the three-dot menu, though this option only temporarily reduces the number of Shorts shown.

AI Integration:

A previously announced update involving Google DeepMind’s Veo AI model will be available later this year, allowing creators to enhance their Shorts by changing video backgrounds or generating stand-alone video clips using AI tools.

These changes highlight YouTube’s push to stay competitive in the short-form video market, offering creators more flexibility and engagement tools to go head-to-head with TikTok.

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