For creator Erika Kalberg, YouTube is the real moneymaker compared to other platforms: With more than 21 million followers across social media, Kalberg has made more than $353,000 through YouTube in five years, compared to $5,756 from TikTok and $20,251 from Facebook.
Credit: Erica Kullberg
Now, with a TikTok ban potentially looming, YouTube is giving veteran YouTubers like Kullberg new tools while also trying to attract more short-form video creators to Shorts with new features.
YouTube on Thursday announced that it’s adding a text-to-speech feature to its Shorts videos with four built-in voices, meaning that if creators write text in their Shorts videos, they can have that text read aloud to listeners.
Related: ‘I’ve never regretted leaving corporate life’: How a former lawyer made six figures on YouTube
The new “Add yours” sticker allows creators to post their video of the day with a sticker that viewers can click to post their own content related to the video, creating more opportunities for creators and viewers to interact virtually.
YouTube is extending Auto Layout, a feature that lets you take a longer YouTube video, find a subject, and automatically zoom and crop it to create a custom short video, to Android.
“We now get 70 billion views per day,” Joanna Vorich, YouTube’s chief product officer, said in an update video, adding that YouTube Shorts is a “growing platform” and “you can build businesses on Shorts.”
Related: How to Start a YouTube Channel: A Step-by-Step Guide
YouTube announced in September that its short videos were reaching 70 billion daily views, attributing those views to more than 2 billion logged-in users.
While YouTube Shorts is a similar format to TikTok, social media users still spend a lot of time on TikTok: As of Q4 2023, U.S. adults spend an average of 53.8 minutes on TikTok each day.
In comparison, they spent 48.7 minutes on YouTube.
YouTube Shorts and TikTok videos are typically short, with YouTube Shorts capped at one minute. TikTok allows longer videos up to 30 minutes, and some longer TikTok videos have gone viral.
Despite the overall shorter length of YouTube Shorts and TikTok videos, users are spending more time on the two platforms than on other social media sites.
Related: ‘Paying off my debt’ TikTok user explains how much money her viral video made and how it started the trend
