YouTube Shorts can help you deliver content to a large audience and grow your channel. This time-saving content represents an excellent opportunity for YouTube content creators to scale and improve their channel growth and boost the engagement rate.
Do youtube shorts help your channel grow? Yes. A solid YouTube Shorts strategy is important, even for long-form creators.
In this post, we are going to cover the basics, tips, and growth strategies to help your channel grow with Shorts.
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Do YouTube Shorts Help your Channel Get More Views?
Yes – YouTube Shorts will help your channel get more views with the right content and content optimization. And the more views your channel gets, the higher the chance to gain more subscribers and monetize your content.
If you quickly look at the #Shorts landing page on YouTube, you’ll understand how effective this content can be. This is why small channels should start posting YouTube shorts.
Find more statistics at Statista
So yes, the statistics show massive growth in YouTube Shorts from 2022 – 2023; a 25% gain in monthly views year-on-year (YoY). But how do creators get a piece of the action? It’s all about being smart and strategic: optimizing your videos and descriptions, doing keyword research, engaging your community, taking hints from your successful long-form videos to find inspiration or straight-up clips that can create the foundation of your YouTube shorts strategy.
In every case, TubeBuddy can help. Giving creators an unfair advantage on YouTube is what we do.
YouTube Shorts: The Basics Creators Need to Know
Before we dive into using Shorts as a channel growth strategy, let’s confirm some basics of the feature.
- YouTube Shorts are vertical or square videos that are 60 seconds or less long.
- Shorts can be a 60-second continuous video or several 15-second videos combined. But if your Short uses music from YouTube’s Audio Library, it will be limited to 15 seconds.
- YouTube counts views for shorts like regular videos.
- Views of YouTube Shorts count toward a channel’s total watch time
- YouTube Shorts watch time does not count toward the 4,000 hours of watch time required to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).
- Creators can qualify for the YPP with Shorts… they just need 10M Shorts views in the past 90 days.
- Any subscribers generated with Shorts count towards the 1,000 needed to be eligible for the YPP.
- Viewers of your Shorts can share, comment, like, dislike, or subscribe to your channel while viewing the video.
- Using YouTube’s built-in creation tools, you can capture, edit, add music from major labels (including Sony, Universal, and Warner), add animated text, control the speed of your footage, and edit together multiple 15-second video clips to create your Shorts.
- Viewers can access the Shorts shelf on the YouTube homepage, your channel page, notifications, or the app.
- With some work-arounds, you can even add a thumbnail to a YouTube Short video.
The Benefits of YouTube Shorts on Your Channel
Let’s check some of the most important benefits that YouTube Shorts can provide for your channel.
- Creating YouTube Shorts doesn’t necessarily require heavy editing
- You can earn money with YouTube Shorts
- There is growth potential in some YouTube Shorts niches
- You can repurpose your long-form video to create YouTube Shorts
Creating YouTube Shorts Doesn’t Require Heavy Editing
Considering a YouTube short is easier to make and requires less time to record and publish, it’s also more compact than a regular video. YouTube Shorts don’t require heavy editing to be successful but if editing is your thing, your content won’t be out of place.
When creating YouTube Shorts, you’re working with footage of a maximum of 60 seconds. And the shorter your YouTube material is, the less time you’ll spend on editing your video.
You Can Earn Money by Making YouTube Shorts
Because Shorts are shorter than standard YouTube videos, they don’t have mid-roll ads. That makes Shorts harder to monetize directly but YouTube does give creators a cut of all ads that appear before or after a view of their Shorts content.
Shorts can be monetized via AdSense only if:
- Views do not come from the Shorts shelf but rather from the home page.
- Music from the Shorts library was not used. Any view will not be monetized with copyright music applied from the app or flagged by Content ID)
Growth Potential With YouTube Shorts Niches
One of the most important factors for creating successful YouTube content is understanding what niches you find engaging and interesting to viewers. But sometimes, even the biggest YouTube content creators need some time to come up with an idea.
YouTube Shorts have a variety of popular niches that can easily make a YouTube Short blow-up, so it’s easier to see what niches of content are the most engaging to viewers and bring the most clicks.
Here are ten YouTube Shorts niches that are going viral in 2023 and can bring views fast:
- Entertainment
- Food & Drink
- Video Games
- Sports
- Crafting
- Family & Parenting
- Animals & Pets
- Movies & Television
- Science & Technology
- News
On the other hand, keep in mind that these niches are the most viral ones at the moment. Competition can really strong, really fast and it’ll be difficult (but not impossible) for smaller creators to stand out.
The best advice is to always think about how your content serves a viewer need. Even in video games — by far the most saturated content niche — there are opportunities for creators who have something different to offer.
You Can Repurpose Your Long-Form Video Into a YouTube Short
Another important benefit of creating YouTube Shorts is that you can always use your long-form videos and take small bits and pieces from them for your YouTube Short.
If you repurpose your long-form content into a YouTube Short, you can save time on both the creating and editing processes.
Since YouTube Shorts are… short, people can watch a lot more of them in a sitting. Your chances of getting seen are better and you can use the opportunity to promote your long-form videos to drive views and subscribers to your main content.
For example, you could create a YouTube Short that features the most entertaining or important parts of a long-form video.
Pro tip: If you already have an uploaded video, you can also use the ‘’Remix’’ feature from YouTube Shorts to cut out snippets from your long-form video.
In a recent update to YouTube Shorts, YouTube removed linked URLs in Shorts comments and descriptions. At the same time though, they made it easier for creators to link to long-form videos from Shorts. The change is a net-positive for creators and viewers alike. It cuts down on the spam and scam comments while offering viewers a clear path from Shorts videos to long-form videos.
You can also use TubeBuddy’s Suggested Shorts feature to discover your best-performing bits of video and turn them into Shorts.
How do YouTube Shorts help your channel grow?
The most exciting benefit of Shorts is potential exposure. Like TikTok, it can be very easy to quickly get in front of a large audience, which is ideal for reaching viewers with shorter attention spans.
Even more exciting is that your content can be served to non-subscribers, opening up a new potential audience.
YouTube has also ensured the subscriber box is always visible when you post a Short, making it easy to subscribe if people like what they see.
Of course, like regular videos, you’ll need to offer value to the viewer in whatever form your Shorts take. But there are some tricks you can take advantage of to give you a kickstart:
Keep it Snappy
If you’re used to publishing successful long-form videos on YouTube, you know about hooks. On Shorts though, you have even less time to engage a viewer’s attention; you need to hook them in the first second or two or they’ll swipe away.
Always Add Value
Think about the value your content can offer to the audience. Where possible, align the content with the viewer’s goals, or address a pain point the viewer has. This will vary by niche, of course. Just think about what problems your ideal viewer has, or what information would be valuable to them and create short-form content that helps.
Use Replays
Shorts are played on a loop. If you master the loop form, you can add a multiplier to your view count. Consider consider how your content will come across not just from start to finish, but from finish to start.
You’ve probably seen this in action. It can be as simple as ending your video with something like “and that’s how…”
Three Key Factors to Boost Your YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts have potential for creators and can even out-perform long-form videos. But as with any other content, you should have a plan when starting out.
Let’s go through the three best ways to get started with Shorts to give the most value to your viewers and get the most value for your channel.
Familiarize Yourself With the Platform
Before jumping right into content creation, scroll through YouTube Shorts to see what other creators are making. Familiarize yourself with hot topics and popular sounds. Get a sense for the formats that work. Think about how these things might apply to your content.
Trends come and go but best practices have a longer shelf life.
Use the search functions across platforms to discover trends in your niche or, better yet, find ways to apply popular sounds to your industry and experiences.
YouTube Shorts tl;dr
Shorts are short. It’s right there in the name. Hook your audience up front. Skip the long intros. Deliver value. Think about your specific niche and how you can use the Shorts format to deliver content that provides value.
Build a Community
While Shorts are effective for sharing your content with new audiences, the platform also provides a new opportunity to engage with your existing fanbase.
Creators can respond to comments on longer videos and Shorts with a Short. The result is a more informal two-way conversation in contrast to the traditional one-sided—often heavily edited—main channel video.
Suggested Shorts from TubeBuddy
Suggested Shorts from TubeBuddy can help creators struggling to come up with great Shorts ideas tht don’t take away from their core long-form strategy. Suggested Shorts uses AI and YouTube data to help creators tool helps content creators capitalize on YouTube Shorts trends by highlighting areas of long-form videos that could make great Shorts.
We could write a whole blog post just on TubeBuddy Suggested Shorts, discussing “do YouTube Shorts help your channel grow” (oh wait, we did) but here are the basics on how to use this helpful feature.
How to use TubeBuddy Suggested Shorts
- Select content from the YouTube Studio dashboard on your channel
- Find the video you’d like to use
- Choose Suggested Shorts from the TubeBuddy side menu
- Let TubeBuddy AI identify the most engaging parts of your video
- Browse the Suggested Shorts and click on the ‘’play’’ button to review them
- Click on the ‘’Retention Increase’’ below the thumbnail to check analytics
Shorts aren’t going anywhere, so now is the time to jump on board. YouTube is investing in Shorts by regularly adding and updating features.
Five Great Ideas for YouTube Shorts Content
The ways you can provide value to your audience and beyond via Shorts come in many forms. Whether it’s offering some quick tips, a quick-hit how-to, something fun, crazy, engaging, or just plain entertaining, there’s no end of topics you can cover.
Here are five thought starters to get you thinking about how to use YouTube Shorts… even if you’re traditionally a long-form video creator.
Promote Your Regular Channel
Use YouTube Shorts to promote and grow your regular channel. Every time you post a Short, it’s an opportunity for your content to get a view, and that view could turn into a channel subscriber or someone who engages with your main channel content.
Tease Your Audience
Use the format to whet the appetite about what’s coming in a longer-form video.
Behind-the-scenes Footage
BTS footage is a fun way to let viewers into your world and can make entertaining, relatively low-lift YouTube Shorts content.
Spoil your long-form content
Give YouTube Shorts viewers the tl;dr. Sharing the key points and take-aways can pique curiosity and interest, driving viewers to your long-form videos or better yet, to hit the subscribe button..
Jump on Trends
Don’t just jump on trends but if a given trend has implications for your niche, or if a trend sparks a great idea, act fast. Create a Short and publish it before the trend has run its course.
Should You Make a Separate Channel for YouTube Shorts?
There is no hard-and-fast answer here. A strong argument can be made for either case. It all comes down to what makes sense for you, your content, and your overall content strategy.
Some creators choose to start separate channels for Shorts content. This can be a wise move if the videos will be radically different from your usual content.
Some YouTubers are creating new channels so their short-form and long-form content can remain separate.
Take MrBeast, for example, whose Shorts channel has generated nearly 30.3M million subscribers and over 1.4 billion views to date:
However, any new subscribers you generate for your channel from Shorts will, by default, resonate with your short-form content. However, while shorts get you new subs, these same subs will only look to see new shorts and not your longer videos.
However, if you enjoy making Shorts and the content is related to your long-form video, it might make the most sense to continue posting to your existing channel.
Five Takeaways to Use Shorts to Grow Your YouTube Channel
- Focus on developing the type of #Shorts content that truly resonates with your audience
- Think of YouTube Shorts as a means to an end. The goal may not be the Shorts’ success but a way to get attention to your channel.
- Shorts can be a great way to establish yourself and create early traction if you’re new to YouTube.
- Always create value for the viewer with every piece of content you publish
- YouTube Shorts are fantastic for getting exposure and growing subscribers. However, viewers interested in Shorts will primarily be looking for Shorts. If you want to grow your regular channel, your main goal should be to convert your Shorts viewer into your main content viewer.
Special Creator Day live stream
📅 April 23, 2024
⏰ 6 – 7:30pm PST
What’s next in creator tech? Join BENlabs CEO Ricky Ray Butler, host Judah Lee, and creators King Bach, Hannah Stocking, and Kris London for a special Creator Day event, streaming live from LA.
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