Photo Credit: YouTube
YouTube makes it even easier to convert long-form videos into YouTube Shorts.
With apps like TikTok leading to the rise in short-form media dominating the internet, YouTube introduced Shorts to keep up with the trend. YouTube Shorts encourage users to experiment with shorter media on the YouTube platform, but now it’s even easier for creators to make Shorts. Creators can take existing content from their library and edit it into a Short.
“We’re beginning to roll out the ability to make Shorts from a VOD on iOS & Android,” tweets YouTube’s Jake Curtis. “Shorts from VODs will link back to the original long-form videos so that people watching your Short can see the original video too.”
In the YouTube Studio app, creators can choose any of their long-form videos and select up to 60 seconds to turn into a YouTube Short. Users will have access to the tools they’re used to from the web-based version of YouTube Studio, including filters, music, the timeline editor, and more. Additionally, Shorts created from existing long-form videos will link to the original.
YouTube Shorts continue to perform well, with over 1.5 billion users watching them each month. More than 70% of users who regularly engage in YouTube content are also regularly watching short-form videos. The increasingly mobile viewers tend to seek out short-form content — creators who incorporate short-form and long-form videos are seeing better overall subscriber growth than those who specialize in one.
Short-form videos are going strong on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, but other platforms like Instagram continue to fall behind on the trend. Recently, Instagram converted all videos on the platform shorter than 15 minutes into Reels, their answer to short-form content.
Additionally, Instagram’s recent updates to its feed — namely, displaying full-screen videos and images — have been met with complaints. Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri even addressed the situation on Twitter, resulting in the company reverting the full-screen changes.
Still, Instagram and its parent company Meta are committed to evolving with the trend and maintaining relevance. Instagram continues adding new templates and features to Reels and Reels Remix, including green-screen, picture-in-picture, and split screen in both vertical and horizontal modes.