YouTube Mediums Are Here

You can now post YouTube Shorts up to three minutes long

On October 15, YouTube updated its platform to allow three-minute YouTube Shorts. Here’s everything you need to know.

In Today’s Letter:
  • Why The Change?

  • The Rollout

  • No First Mover Advantage?

  • What Does That Mean For You?

Why The Change?

YouTube said they made the decision to increase Shorts to three minutes based on user feedback. Their goal is to give creators more flexibility with the stories they tell.

As of October 15, any video posted in a square aspect ratio or taller that is under three minutes is eligible for YouTube Shorts. This is a “go-forward” change, so any three-minute vertical videos posted before October 15, 2024, are not eligible for YouTube Shorts.

The Rollout

While you can officially post three-minute YouTube Shorts, they will not show up in the Shorts feed for about a week as the system updates.

The Shorts feed is not the only system that needs to update as a result of this change, so it will take even longer for three-minute Shorts to appear in other areas of the platform (channel page, home page, recommended videos, etc.).

No First Mover Advantage?

Usually, when a social platform rolls out a new feature, one of the primary benefits is that they prioritize it, allowing users who adopt the feature early to receive a boost in the algorithm. However, that may not be the case this time.

YouTube Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie posted on Threads, saying:

It may also take a while for the recommendations algorithm to learn how to balance short Shorts vs. long Shorts in individual feeds, so don't expect any early-mover over-serving”.

While you might not see an immediate advantage to posting long Shorts, improving the long Shorts recommendations is a priority for YouTube. In a recent video, Todd Sherman, YouTube’s Shorts Lead said that in the coming months they are going to be “investing in improving our recommendations so that we get really good at recommending videos up to 180 seconds”.

What Does That Mean For You?

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