YouTube Has Started Testing Ads For YouTube Shorts

YouTube is starting to test ads on YouTube Shorts. During its first-quarter earnings call, the company shared that it's in the early staging of testing advertisements on its short-form video feature. The news comes as Shorts reaches 30 billion daily views, a 4x increase from a year ago. Unfortunately, this increase in Shorts has taken away watch time from its traditional long-form videos and as a result, led to ad revenue below its projections. This has prompted the company to start testing ads on Shorts sooner than it originally planned.

There’s no denying that short-form video is now and the future. TikTok’s popularity has led Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and YouTube to invest in short-form video experiences. Although most brands and creators are leveraging the content format, many of the platforms are struggling to find a way to monetize the format. Because the videos are so short, throwing pre-roll or mid-roll ads on them like what is done on long-form videos would likely damage the viewer experience.

Since short-form video is becoming the preferred format for creation and consumption for many creators, YouTube and others will need to find a way to build an ad product around it. The ad product will need to be able to drive revenue and pay creators, all while not disrupting the viewer experience too much.