On Tuesday, we covered the global rollout of YouTube Shorts with the YouTube app getting a UI change to feature the new TikTok competitor. The Shorts camera also debuted for users in the U.S. and India earlier this week, but it’s not required to create Shorts for the platform.
Now, in a push to further the take on TikTok, YouTube is announcing a $100 million dollar fund for Shorts creators. The fund will be distributed over the course of 2021-2022 to creators with the most engagement and views.
YouTube does not state what the exact requirements will be in order to earn your slice of the $100 million dollar fund, but it does say that anyone is eligible to participate “by creating unique Shorts that delight the YouTube community.”
Every month, YouTube says it will reach out to “thousands of creators whose Shorts received the most engagement and views to reward them for their contributions.” They will also seek feedback from these top creators on how to improve the YouTube Shorts experience.
Even better, you don’t have to be part of the YouTube Partner Program to get in on the YouTube Shorts Fund. This really levels the playing field and gives any person a chance at making a viral Short and getting paid for it.
All of this has come about because YouTube hasn’t quite figured out how to monetize Shorts like it does other videos on its platform. However, YouTube knows if it wants to challenge the behemoth known as TikTok, that it has to find some way to lure content creators to the platform. Luckily, Google has no shortage of money and it’s throwing its weight around.
Besides throwing money at creators, YouTube is also looking at ways to expand Shorts and expose the short-form videos to more viewers. So get ready to have Shorts thrown in your face every time you open the YouTube app I guess. Plus, you can bet Google is hard at work trying to figure out how to squeeze ads into the experience. They have to replenish that $100 million dollar fund somehow.
