Google is bracing itself for a slice of the pie in the short video social segment that TikTok has so far dominated with its own version of YouTube shorts. And while there are a couple of notable differences, YouTube Shorts almost entirely has a similar approach to videos and is seen as a direct response to TikTok which has since faced uncertainty in the US with the government there planning to either ban its operations or have an American company manage them.
We’ve just learned that TikTok’s US branch won’t be sold to Microsoft after all, instead, Bytedance is opting for a partnership with Oracle to manage its US operations, a move the company expects would somehow cool down Donald Trump. The unexpected move consequently rules out the possibility of acquisition by Microsoft as the rumors had suggested, but it’s a wait and see game whether this would be enough to convince Trump not to ban its US operations.
Differences between YouTube Shorts and TikTok
Its important to note that YouTube shorts is still in beta and anything could change before it’s rolled out to the masses. However, we’ve got some key differences to point out. While TikTok’s version of short videos are capped at 60seconds, YouTube Shorts has restricted its beta version to 15 seconds.
The beta version of shorts is currently limited to Indian users, but we expect to hit other territories in the near future. Users can currently add music to their library, tweak the speed, string together parts of a video clip and create a countdown or timer to perfect their footage.
For the viewers, the Watch experience feature you already enjoy with TikTok has been added and you can as well swipe vertically to browse videos. Shorts timing is particularly interesting give several Chinese apps have faced uncertainty in India with most of them barred to operate in the country following a rift between the two territories.
TikTok currently boasts of millions of daily active users and its estimated there were nearly 700 million active users per month worldwide as of July. Shorts could aid YouTube in keeping TikTok’s success in check and continue having users glued on Google apps.