YouTube Shorts invade the biggest screen in your home
YouTube Shorts, a vertical, short-form and very TikTok-like YouTube video format is now coming to TV screens.
The 60-second clips have been a huge hit for YouTube. Sunder Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, revealed earlier this year that Shorts get over a billion views per day (opens in a new tab). Quickly taking advantage of it, the developers have roll out new features for Shorts (opens in a new tab) to expand its capabilities. So the leap to TV screens is a logical next step but, according to the official announcement (opens in a new tab)Moving is not so simple.
The main problem was figuring out how to bring vertical smartphone video to the horizontal TV screen.
How it works
The solution to this is to create a custom option to “make the most of it [a] Additional space of the widescreen. βThe shorts will be displayed with a border around them alluding to the smartphone screen. Behind the video will be a “color-sampled blurred background” that reflects the content. YouTube found that to be more suitable than a simple ink-black background. Basic functions like the Like and Dislike buttons are disabled on the side of the video.
You can find shorts on TV by scrolling down to its section on the YouTube smart TV app. After you select a Short, the videos will play in an endless loop until you exit. You can instead use the center button on the remote to start or stop a Short Game, or use the play and pause buttons, according to an official video (opens in a new tab). Pressing the right button on the remote will display information about the video such as the video title, who made the video, and the audio they used.
You can navigate between the shorts using the up and down buttons of the remote. Work on this feature isn’t over yet as there are plans to include more community features like the ability to subscribe to creators while watching a Short.
YouTube Shorts on TV launches today and will roll out to streaming devices and TV models made after 2018 in the coming weeks. The company claims that it may not work on older TVs, which means there could be a lucky few.
The feature is also coming to “newer game consoles.” Perhaps, this means PS5 and other current generation consoles. We asked Google for more clarification and what kind of community features are being rolled out. This story will be updated if we respond.
Latest features
Given the popularity of Shorts, YouTube has seen fit to make video styling easier and more economically viable, especially when competing with rival TikTok. YouTube has the advantage of being present on many smart TVs, but it still needs that advantage to attract people.
Back in June, YouTube has started rolling out the first round of ads for Shorts content after receiving positive feedback from various advertisers. Now, content creators have the opportunity to monetize their short-form content. The company also improved YouTube’s editor allows channels to create shorts from their old content. Some of the tools include a timeline editor, filters, and text tools just to name a few.
If you’re interested in flexing those creative muscles and uploading to YouTube Shorts, be sure to check it out TechRadar’s easy-to-follow guide. The initial process can be a bit confusing for newbies.