YouTube launched a $100 million fund on Tuesday to compensate content creators who create popular videos on its latest short-form video feature Shorts, as part of its effort to court more influencers.
According to YouTube, the fund will start in the coming months and reimburse creators this year and in 2022.
The investment comes as platforms compete to attract young creators who film short comedy skits and dance routines to create large fan bases – and large earnings potential. TikTok, a viral video app, was the first to popularize short-form video clips, and other apps like Facebook-owned Instagram’s Reels, Snapchat Spotlight, and YouTube Shorts soon followed suit.
The new fund, according to YouTube, will pay thousands of creators per month whose videos on Shorts receive the most viewer interaction.
Shorts will begin to test ads, according to the streaming video platform.
Platforms have used creator funds to court more consumers as the market for short video features becomes more crowded.
In July, TikTok introduced a creator fund, which was later increased to $1 billion in three years in the United States.
Users who post high-quality content on Spotlight are awarded $1 million every day.
YouTube will soon make it easier for users to search through videos by automatically translating video names, descriptions, and captions into their native language, according to a study published earlier this month. The function, which appears to have been activated through a server-side update, has reportedly been discovered by a few users. It is anticipated that it will be available for a period of time.
