YouTube Shorts hits over 2 billion viewership, gets new Collab tool

Google-owned YouTube has announced that Shorts are now being watched by over 2 billion logged-in users every month, prompting the company to expand functionality on the platform. YouTube has introduced new creation tools for short, vertical videos ‘YouTube Shorts’, including a Collab tool, Q&A sticker and much more. Also Read: YouTube Gets Dedicated Mental Health And Wellbeing Section For Teenagers: Who Can Access, What's Special?

Collab is a new creation tool that allows users to record a Short in a side-by-side format with other YouTube or Shorts videos. Creators can choose from multiple layout options to easily join in with a split-screen format. Users just have to select ‘Remix’ and then ‘Collab’ to remix an eligible Short or YouTube video. Collab joins Green Screen, which uses a YouTube video or Short as the background of our original Short, and Cut, which lets you use a 1-5 second segment from a YouTube video or Short in your own Short, as yet another way to remix Shorts content. Also Read: YouTube’s Next Big AI Upgrade: Lip-Syncing For Auto-Dubbed Videos Coming Soon

“Starting today and in the coming weeks, we’ll roll out Collab to all creators on iOS, with Android to follow,” the platform said. To roll out soon, the new Q&A sticker will allow creators to ask their audience questions and get responses right in the comments. The video-sharing platform is also testing a mobile-first vertical live experience so that live creators can get discovered right in the Shorts feed. Viewers in the test will see previews of vertical live videos mixed into the Shorts feed. Also, when someone taps into the experience, they’ll be placed in a scrollable feed of other live videos. Also Read: YouTube Shorts Adds Product Stickers for Shopping: Everything You Need to Know

“We’re making it easier to create on YouTube with Shorts whenever inspiration strikes on your feed with a new feature that bundles the audio and effect from the Short you’re remixing from automatically,” the company said. Moreover, in the next few weeks, the platform will start testing new recomposition tools that will help users more easily transform their horizontal videos into Shorts.

— Written with inputs from IANS