Back in August, Google Discover started surfacing “Short videos” to join webpages, regular videos, and later, AMP-based Web Stories. Ahead of the beta coming to the US next month, Google is testing YouTube Shorts and other short-form content in Discover.
Cards feature the YouTube play logo in the top-left corner, while the video title and “YouTube” appears below. Tapping immediately opens the YouTube app and a new fullscreen player where you can like/dislike, see comments, share, and see “More” — Description, Report, or Send feedback. There’s no seek bar with the only control being play/pause. You can swipe up to jump to a new Short and down to go back.
When we first spotted the “Short videos” carousel in Discover last year, it surfaced clips from Indian TikTok competitor Trell and Google Area 120 project Tangi, which is focused on 60-second DIY “quick videos.”
Back in Discover, you have the option to “Don’t show this again” from the overflow menu, while this carousel is shown alongside the one for AMP “Stories.”
The carousel displays 10 videos, while there is some nuance to what content appears here. “YouTube Shorts” are up to 15 seconds long and created using a “Shorts camera” that’s currently only available in India. Accessed from the Create menu in the YouTube app’s bottom bar, this new “short-form video creation tool” lets you select music, adjust speed, and set a hands-free Countdown timer while recording.
However, YouTube is encouraging all creators to upload short vertical videos that are up to 60 seconds and tagged with #Shorts in the title or description. Those videos are also shown in the special player UI described above, various carousels in the YouTube app, and — now — Discover.
Google Discover today already surfaces regular YouTube content as full cards, and today’s addition of Shorts is a natural extension that will help boost the beta format. In announcing that Shorts camera and beta is coming stateside, the Google company said the “the YouTube Shorts player is now receiving more than 3.5 billion daily views globally.”
Google Discover’s Short videos carousel with YouTube is still in testing and not yet widely rolled out.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments