With YouTube Shorts gaining over 1.5 billion monthly users, there’s no doubt you want to create your own.
But before you start, you need to learn the basics to ensure you meet YouTube’s requirements and create content that reaches your audience. While there are various requirements, the length of your videos play a vital role.
How long should your YouTube Shorts be? Is length as important as we say it to be?
Here’s your Riverside guide to YouTube Shorts length. We’ll share requirements, recommendations and how to create your own short-form videos for YouTube.
YouTube requirements: How long can YouTube Shorts be?
Currently, YouTube Shorts must be a minimum of 15 seconds and a maximum of 60 seconds in length.
A maximum-length 60-second clip on YouTube Shorts can be a single video, or it can be an amalgamation of several 15-second clips. However, if you use music from the YouTube catalog, your video will be limited to 15 seconds only.
YouTube Shorts dimensions must be a 9:16 aspect ratio, with a vertical video orientation. Videos should achieve a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels.
How long should your YouTube Shorts be?
While the YouTube platform will support Shorts of up to 60 seconds long, this doesn’t mean you have to use the whole time duration. In fact, in many cases, shorter clips can deliver better performance results.
More than 70% of YouTube Shorts exceed the 15-second minimum duration, but many don’t reach the 60-second limit. Somewhere in the middle is a good choice if you want to provide value for your audience without losing their attention before your clip ends.
The ideal length for your YouTube Shorts will vary depending on a range of factors, such as:
- Audience
- Type of content
- Brand identity
- Video elements
- Series or standalone
- Insights from previous content
For example, a simple comedy skit might only require a very short clip to get the message across. An educational Short might need you to take more time for explanations.
The best approach is to do your research. Spend some time watching YouTube Shorts, and look for content that aligns closely with your own industry or niche. Try a few different video lengths across a range of projects. Take note of the typical length associated with successful videos, and aim to emulate this.
Why should you create YouTube Shorts?
There are so many reasons why you should include YouTube Shorts as part of your content strategy!
Creating YouTube Shorts allows you to reach an all-new audience and grow your channel. Year over year, Shorts are growing by 135%, offering you plenty of opportunities for growth and engagement.
As you continue to share YouTube Shorts videos, you can keep working to improve your content. Over time, you’ll start to see better content performance stats and begin to grow your audience in meaningful ways.
5 benefits to YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts offer a great range of benefits! Here are just a few of the key advantages that make this channel worth exploring.
You can be an early adopter
Research shows that for YouTube Shorts, demand far outpaces supply. This means that you have a chance to be an early adopter, leading the trend for the platform.
Where it can be difficult to get your content noticed on older, more established social media sites, YouTube Shorts remains relatively new. You can start building your Shorts audience with less competition, helping your content stand out from the crowd.
Increase your discoverability
While YouTube Shorts connect with your existing YouTube channel, they have their own feed. This gives you a new space to attract more subscribers to your channel and long-form content. Viewers may see and like your Shorts in their feed, pushing them to subscribe. Once they subscribe, it’s more likely your other content will pop up on their feeds.
Increase audience engagement and visibility
It’s much easier to keep an audience engaged with short-form content. On top of this, if you nail your Shorts, YouTube will show your video to more people. This is because the YouTube Shorts algorithm will support content that engages audiences and keeps users on the platform. You can use the algorithm to boost your reach and help new users discover your content.
Easier to make
It can take hours to make one long YouTube video. With Shorts, you can create valuable content a lot faster. If you’re using a platform like Riverside, you can even do this at the tap of a button with our Magic Clips feature.
And if you prefer to do everything on YouTube, the platform offers an intuitive interface that makes it easy for beginners to create content.
Share your content everywhere
Finally, one of YouTube’s greatest strengths is its broad compatibility with other digital channels. YouTube’s dominance means that you can share your content anywhere.
When you publish YouTube Shorts videos, you can use YouTube links to share your content with audiences in other destinations, from social media posts to online chats. This can help you drive even more traffic to your channel.
How to make YouTube Shorts effortlessly with Riverside
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The good news is that you can use studio-quality tools like Riverside to create incredible YouTube Shorts that will capture your audience’s attention.
Riverside is a video creation platform with recording, editing, and transcription tools all in one place. Record studio-quality video with up to 8 participants and then edit your video in a breeze. With our text-based editor, adjusting your recording is as simple as editing text in a transcript. In the editor, you can also add captions, adjust your layout, and polish up your audio with our automated tools. But best of all for YouTube Shorts creators is our Magic Clips feature. Magic Clips uses AI to turn your recordings’ key moments into short, shareable videos. You can turn one long YouTube recording into multiple engaging Shorts at the tap of a button.
And there’s more. Here are some of our key features:
- Up to 4k video and 48kHz audio resolution for studio-quality content
- Local recording so everything is recorded via each user's own device instead of relying on internet connection
- Separate video and audio tracks for up to 8 call participants
- Magic Clips which works with AI technology to instantly find key moments in long-term clips and turn them into short-form videos
- Built-in editing tools, including video adjustments, clip trimming, and text-based editing
- Automatic audio fine-tuning with background noise removal, audio level normalization and a magic tool for removing silences.
- Highly accurate AI transcription is available in over 100 languages
Step-by-step guide to making YouTube Shorts with Riverside
Step 1: Login to your Riverside account, and open a ‘New Studio’. Set your recording type, and then select ‘Enter studio’.
Step 2: In the lobby, select your audio and video input streams. Then ‘Join Studio’.
Step 3: Choose Invite to add any relevant guests. Then press Record to start capturing content.
Step 4: When your recording is complete, select Stop, and choose ‘View recordings’ from the panel on the right side of your screen.
Step 5: On the next screen, click on the relevant recording.
Step 6: To create Shorts at the tap of a button, click on ‘Generate Clips’ from the Magic Clips box. Let AI do the rest and turn your recording’s key moments into short videos.
Step 7: You can click on a clip and select ‘Edit’ to adjust it in the editor. Alternatively, you can edit your whole recording in the editor by clicking on ‘Go to editor’ to access Riverside’s editing suite.
Step 8: In the editor, you can trim your recording by simply deleting text in the transcript. You can also adjust your ratio and layout using the editing toolbar. Plus, can add video captions and style them as you like.
Step 10: When you are ready, select Export at the top right of your screen. Use the dropdown menu to save and download your completed recording, ready to share via YouTube Shorts.
FAQs on how long are YouTube Shorts:
Still unsure about the length and requirements of YouTube Shorts? Here are our answers to a few frequently asked questions.
Can YouTube Shorts be of 2 minutes?
Unfortunately, YouTube Shorts are currently not able to be 2 minutes in length, as the maximum duration is just 60 seconds. For now, you’ll need to ensure that you can communicate your ideas within just 1 minute or else produce several Shorts to cover everything. Eventually, YouTube may update its requirements to allow longer short-form videos.
How long is the average YouTube Shorts video?
There’s no set average length for YouTube Shorts. Most users exceed the 15-second minimum, however. The standard length for your content will depend on the niche you serve and the kind of content you are producing.
How do you get viral on YouTube Shorts?
Going viral is far from an exact science. There’s no way to know for sure which videos will become popular. Your best option is to research carefully and work to create engaging, impactful videos that resonate with your audience. Then look for new ways to market your content and reach a wider audience over time.
Final Thoughts
Understanding the fundamentals of YouTube Shorts can help you make the most of the platform as you create content and work to build your online community.
If you’re interested in improving the quality of your YouTube Shorts and adopting an easier production process, try Riverside! Access professional-quality tools within a user-friendly interface.
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