Google’s TikTok competitor YouTube Shorts has now started rolling out globally to all markets. The service was first launched in India last year as a part of YouTube. It was then rolled out t 26 countries including the US and the UK. While the app is still in its beta phase, it will now be made available in over 100 countries around the world where YouTube is available according to a report by The Verge.
Google is not the only company trying to emulate TikTok’s successful short video format, other major tech companies are also doing so. Some of these include Facebook with its Instagram Reels feature and Snapchat with its Spotlight feature.
YouTube Shorts is a feature that allows YouTubers to create short-form videos, which are up to 60 seconds long. The feature is available on both Android and iOS platforms. To recall, YouTube even launched a separate app for the feature, back in September, which was aptly named Shorts. However, the major selling point behind the feature remains the wider YouTube ecosystem, which distributes the short content to its users.
While YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat are busy trying to emulate TikTok’s short video format and integrate it inside of their own platforms. TikTok is busy experimenting with features that make all of the other apps unique and popular. For example, TikTok is currently experimenting with long format videos, where it has tripled its maximum video length to three minutes for everyone. Apart from this, the company has also rolled out its app for TV platforms like Android TV and Fire TV.
Note: TikTok is currently banned in India and is not available for users to download on iOS nor on Android. Even the website has been shut down in the country.
