Launched sometime in March this year, YouTube Shorts is a TikTok clone that goes up against Instagram Reels and Snapchat Spotlight. Now the video-sharing giant has set aside $100 million which it plans to pay people who will use its service.
With stiff competition from other video-sharing social networking services, the money is meant to encourage creators to keep its service which doesn't give creators a built-in way to make money.
Also Read: Facebook Is Testing A Video Speed Dating App Called Sparked
YouTube says the funds will be distributed over the course of 2021-2022, and that anyone can participate by creating unique Shorts. However, videos created have to be original content, and as well abide by YouTube's community guidelines.
How much money can creators earn? We can't tell. However, YouTube says that it will reach out to thousands of creators on a monthly basis whose Shorts would have received the most engagement and views.
Also, those creators will be asked to share their feedback to improve the product experience.
Similar to TikTok, YouTube offers users tools to make video clips of 15 seconds or less. All you need to do is tap on the "Create" icon at the bottom of the YouTube homepage and select the "Create a short" option to instantly record a short video in the mobile app.
The tools also allow to merge multiple clips together, add a song to the background by picking up music from YouTube's huge library of contents.
YouTube isn't the first to go with this approach. TikTok launched a $200 million creators fund in July 2020, while Snapchat paid out $1 million daily to users on its Spotlight in November 2020.
For now, payments will be available for Short creators in the US and India, though the company plans on expanding to more regions.