YouTube Shorts: Early beta version of TikTok rival launched in India; all you need to know

Google is eyeing TikTok’s market in India as it announced on September 14 that it will test a beta version of YouTube Shorts in the country. The Indian government has banned several Chinese apps, including TikTok, over national security concerns and several tech firms want to fill the void with their own identical product.

YouTube vice president of product management Chris Jaffe wrote in a blog post that Shorts is a new short-form video experience “for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.” Jaffe said that YouTube will be launching an early beta version of Shorts, over the next few days, with a handful of new creation tools.

“We’ll continue to add more features and expand to more countries in the coming months as we learn from you and listen to your feedback,” he added.

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YouTube brings TikTok rival in India

Youtube said that Shorts will be built around three main areas of creation, community building, and new watch experience. The creation of a short-form video will be at the core of Shorts and new tools for creators and artists in the early beta version will include a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, option to record with music from a library of songs, speed controls, and a timer and countdown to easily record, hands-free.

YouTube has recently rolled out a new spot for the create icon on Android, starting in India, and the company said that it will continue to expand to iOS devices and in more countries soon. The online video-sharing platform has also introduced a new watch experience where a user can swipe vertically from one video to the next and discover other similar short videos. 

“There’s much more to come, and over the next few weeks and months, we’ll continue to roll out more creation tools and easier ways to watch short videos on YouTube,” wrote Jaffe.

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