YouTube today announced the launch of a new short-form video experience it’s calling YouTube Shorts. The feature will allow users, initially in India, to upload 15-second or less short-form videos using a new set of creator tools, including a multi-segment camera, similar to TikTok, speed controls and a timer and a countdown feature.
The videos can also be set to music, thanks to YouTube’s access to a large library of songs that it says will continue to grow over time. In addition, YouTube Shorts will feature hundreds of thousands of tracks from partners like T-Series and Believe Digital. It’s also working with music artists, labels and publishers to make more of their content available in YouTube Shorts’.
Chris Jaffe, VP of Product Management, YouTube, wrote on the official blog, “Over the next few days in India, we’re launching an early beta of Shorts with a handful of new creation tools to test this out. This is an early version of the product, but we’re releasing it now to bring you — our global community of users, creators, and artists — on our journey with us as we build and improve Shorts. We’ll continue to add more features and expand to more countries in the coming months as we learn from you and listen to your feedback.”
YouTube Shorts will offer features, including a multi-segment camera (to string multiple video clips together), record with music (from a large library of songs that will keep growing), speed controls (that give users the flexibility to be more creative) and a timer and a countdown (to easily record hands-free on the smartphone).
The feature will be prominently highlighted within the YouTube app on Android, and will expand to iOS in time.