YouTube Shorts Is Taking on TikTok and Minting a New Constellation of Concise Video Stars

For years, the British teen continued to post only sparingly on YouTube. Then in early 2021, the service introduced YouTube Shorts, a new feature showcasing videos that are less than a minute long. Rhodes embraced it, and within two weeks his YouTube subscribers jumped from 17,000 to over a million. The 17-year-old magician now has 3.8 million subscribers, and his videos have been viewed 3.2 billion times.

Shorts is YouTube’s answer to ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok. That service has been wooing YouTube’s young audience. he online video king has set aside $100 million to pay short-form creators.