In a bid to lure top creators from Tiktok and Instagram Reels, Youtube has announced a $100 million Youtube Shorts fund, which will be awarded to creators for unique content posted on Shorts through 2020-2021.
Youtube Shorts launched in USA last week after a beta test in the country and was introduced to the Indian market in September 2020. While Youtube boasts one of the largest online communities, their short-form video feature hasn’t picked up steam.
The $100 million Youtube Shorts fund aims at reeling in more people to create unique content on Youtube. The company says that they’ll reach out to creators whose Shorts receive the most engagement and views each month and reward them as a part of the fund.
The fund isn’t limited to the Youtube Partner Program participants and will be open to anyone who creates “original content” for Shorts while following the community guidelines.
Over the coming weeks, Youtube Shorts creators will get access to the audio remixing tool previewed earlier this year, which will allow creators to remix audio from videos across Youtube. However, Youtube creators and artists can opt out if they don’t want their videos remixed.

Youtube Shorts camera will be getting the following four new features, alongside new creation tools.
- 60-second videos: Creators will be able to increase the duration of the video from the usual 15 to up to 60 seconds. However, the duration is capped at 15 seconds if the creator uses music from Youtube’s library.
- Filters: Filters are also coming to the recording and editing screen of the Shorts camera. More filters will be added over the coming year.
- Captions for more accessibility: Captions are also coming to Shorts, which will be automatically added to the videos, but creators will have the option to add captions manually.
- Shorts tab for the app: Youtube mobile users will also see a Shorts tab in the bottom row of the app as the Explore tab is shifted to the top-left.
Youtube is also working on more monetisation opportunities for Shorts creators as they scale the feature.

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