The battle of the Shorts

The Future. These days, it seems like everyone’s trying to become TikTok. Most recently, YouTube Shorts just went live with its creator revenue sharing program, splitting ad revenue with creators nearly half-half. With TikTok dealing with backlash for creator pay, this just might be the foot in the door that Google needs to compete.

Your move, Tok
YouTube Shorts is ramping up its attempt to take on TikTok.

• The online video-sharing platform is offering new financial incentives to content creators to lure them away from TikTok.
• Starting February 1, creators that are part of YouTube’s Partner Program (those with over 1,000 subscribers and 10 million views) can monetize their videos with ad revenue sharing.
• YouTube will give 45% of advertising revenue on in-feed ads to creators, pocketing 55% for itself.

The clock’s Tik-ing…
Why is this a big deal? Well, TikTok has been siphoning ad dollars away from major tech platforms like Google and Facebook for years now. From Instagram Reels to YouTube Shorts, everyone’s been trying to reclaim their audience.

With TikTok’s seemingly unstoppable success, it’ll be a tough uphill battle. But revenue sharing may turn out to be the best way to take a shot at TikTok. The social media platform has been criticized for its poor payment sharing. Its $1 billion Creator Fund paid some TikTokers mere cents, while TikTok Pulse (the platform’s version of AdSense) hasn’t been that successful.