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Are Shorts Worth It? What We Learned in 2023

Are Shorts Worth It? What We Learned in 2023

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Creators
December 22, 2023

Hi there -  Happy holidays! We’re wrapping up the year with some good news for creators. According to a new survey from Pew Research Center, 93% of US teens aged 13 to 17 say they use YouTube, making it the most widely used platform in the survey. In comparison, 63% said they use TikTok, 60% said Snapchat and 59% said Instagram. In addition, about 7 in 10 teens surveyed said they visit YouTube daily – more evidence of the opportunity that exists to reach young audiences on the platform. 

—The Spotter Creator Team

Shorts vs. Long-Form Content: What Do the Numbers Say?

If you’re creating Shorts, you’re undoubtedly keeping an eye on views and monetization to see how they compare with your long-form content. But, what have the larger trends been for Shorts vs. long-form? 

Key Insight: Views from Shorts rapidly grew but have recently peaked

According to our research, views from Shorts grew over the past three years and peaked in July 2023, showing a potential shift in audience viewership and creator focus on long-form content.

Key Insights: Shorts RPM has grown up to $0.06 per thousand views after monetization

Shorts monetization started in February 2023. Prior to this, many channels had Shorts RPM of $0.00 - $0.01. Since the introduction of Shorts monetization, the RPM of Shorts has risen from $0.01 up to $0.06 in November 2023. Keeping in mind that these values may be slightly inflated due to higher RPMs in Q4, this shows a noticeable increase in Shorts RPM.

The impact of this change will vary by the size of your Shorts audience and may not be meaningful depending on your Shorts viewership, especially in comparison to long-form RPMs, which continue to be much higher.

Bottom Line: 

Long-form content continues to be strong for views and monetization. While Shorts may bring in views (although the overall view numbers peaked in July), long-form videos have remained steady and outperformed Shorts for RPM/monetization. 

Interested in learning more? For personalized insights and analysis of how Shorts have impacted your channel and content category, reach out to your Spotter Creator Success Manager. 

Spotter

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“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” 

– Sylvia Plath