YOUTUBE IS REPORTEDLY WORKING ON A TIKTOK COMPETITOR CALLED SHORTS

YouTube has announced that it will continue the tradition of ‘big players’ looking to newer platforms for innovation, as it is reportedly working on a TikTok-esque feature called ‘Shorts’. Shorts would essentially facilitate the same operations as TikTok within the YouTube app and take advantage of the video service’s catalogue of licensed music, looking to capitalise on its existing base of two million monthly users.

YouTube’s monetisation infrastructure would allow creators to get paid for publishing videos, something that TikTok has yet to implement. So despite its current success (which has certainly been buoyed by the lockdown), TikTok should certainly be keeping an eye on reports that YouTube and Instagram are set to “borrow” some of its most popular features.

Nonetheless, we’re curious to see how long it takes for YouTube to publicly release Shorts, and whether TikTok will introduce any new features in response.