YouTube Shorts is Finally Getting Monetized— Is it Worth Your Time?
YouTube wants to pay you to create short-form, but should you?
YouTube recently broke big news.
They’re implementing monetization for YouTube shorts with a 45% revenue split for creators in 2023.
This is great news for the creators who are already bullish on the short-form content on YouTube. For the TikTok-shy or averse.
But if you’re a regular video creator, does this mean Shorts is now worth dipping your toes into?
Should you be adding Shorts into your creation mix?
YouTube Shorts seems like a glimmering opporunity — but is it?
The issue used to be that having Shorts used to reduce performance on regular-length videos.
YouTube has now fixed this by splitting the algorithm, and put a bow on it by finally allowing monetization on Shorts in 2023.
But another issue still remains — the Shorts themselves.
Any TikToker is well aware by now that if they were to disappear today, they would be forgotten and replaced by tomorrow.
Why? The demand is simply so high. Still.
(I know I’m talking about TikTok here, but bare with me because it’s vital to understand the position YouTube Shorts will be in shortly).
The reason it’s so easy to grow a TikTok account or a YouTube channel with TikTok compilations (relative to the difficulty of growing other content/platforms) is because the demand for TikTok content outweighs the people able to supply it.
This is the reality:
- 1 billion active monthly users
- Only ~100,000 TikTok influencers (as of 2020, so more now)
- The average user spending 52 minutes on Tiktok DAILY!
That’s a lot of demand for short content swishes past your screen.
Why am I talking about TikTok? Because YouTube Shorts is operating on the exact same playing field.
This means that the traps of TikTok will also become the traps of anyone taking on Shorts.
What are the traps?
YouTube Shorts is poisonous to long-form creators
Short-form content is notoriously bad for building a lasting audience/brand/attention.
Most TikTok influencers aren’t making the big bucks. Why? Because short-form content is freakin’ hard to place ads on.
This fact alone arguably makes TikTok one of the worst platforms to build a brand through. I discussed this at length in this story:
But the lack of stable ad-based income isn’t the only trap.
As mentioned, short-form content sucks for audience-building.
This is because of the low-investment, low-engagement and short amount of time your viewers spend with you.
- Low investment =
👉 Someone watching your short-form content didn’t actively seek it out, but rather was served it & is most likely just looking for some gap-filling entertainment.
- Low engagement =
👉 Someone watching a short clip is less likely to have been left with a strong enough impression to engage with the content, as they are probably once again just standing in some grocery line waiting for their time to ring up
- Low amount of time =
👉 Because short content is you guessed it, short. This means the viewer spend less time with you as a creator and you get less of a chance to make a mark on the viewer
👉It’s hard to build up that creator-audience trust with someone who’s on speed-date with you.
Think about it like this:
- A cinema viewer spends ~90 minutes with the creator’s content (1 movie)
- A YouTube viewer spend ~12 minutes with the creator’s content (1 video)
- A TikTok viewer spend ~30 seconds (1 video)
How much 1 view is worth:
- 1 cinema view = ~90 minutes
- 1 YouTube video view = ~4 minutes 20 seconds
- 1 TikTok view = ~10 seconds
How many creators a viewer has watched after 90 minutes:
The problem is indeed noteworthy.
Consuming 360 creators/hour is unlikely for viewers to remember you. It’s like being on the nation’s singing contest and everyone’s competing.
The chances of you making a career out of it is slim at best.
👉 It’s why TikTokers migrate to YouTube to cement their presences.
👉 It’s why cinemas can get away with a boatload of advertisements before the movie. And why TikTok can’t figure it out.
👉 It’s why actively choosing a title and thumbnail to click on is superior to mindlessly scrolling and ending up on your content by chance.
To summarize: YouTube Shorts is just another vanity metric machine in pretty new packaging. It should be treated as such.
No doubt that making extra bucks on Shorts is nice. But is that incentive enough?
Personally I wouldn’t let it steal focus from the real audience-building of long-form content and projects.
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