YouTube intends to maintain its leading position in the field of online video content with new features that will facilitate the creation of shorts, its competing format with TikTok and Instagram reels. If you are a content creator or community manager, you should like these new features.
1. Auto-layout: a new feature to simplify the conversion of long videos into shorts
The first new feature is the introduction of the auto-layout tool.
Initially designed for the Android application, this new tool makes it easier to convert your long videos into shorts.
Using automatic tracking technology, Auto Layout focuses on the main subject of your video, dynamically adjusting the framing to optimize the video for the narrower format of shorts.
The tool automatically zooms and crops to best optimize the display of your shorts without having to go through the video editing box.
This feature was mainly designed to help creators who have not yet made shorts due to a lack of time and video editing resources.
Of course, the final rendering of this type of short will not be as polished as if it had been made by a professional, but this feature has the merit of helping creators get started more easily in creating shorts.
2: Text to Speech: Adding an Automatic Voice-Over from YouTube
The second new thing that YouTube introduced is the text-to-speech feature. Inspired by the popular option on TikTok, this feature allows you to add a semi-automatic voice-over to your clips.
After recording a short, you can add text and use the "Add Voice" icon at the top left to choose from four available voices.
This feature will be especially useful for creators who do not wish to produce the voiceover themselves due to a lack of time and resources.
Once again, the final rendering will not be as qualitative as if the voice-over had been worked on by the content creator himself, but this functionality once again has the merit of offering an option that will make life easier for YouTubers.
3: The addition of automatic and stylized subtitles is coming.
Finally, YouTube is introducing stylized automatic captions. You will soon be able to add auto-generated subtitles directly to your videos, which will make your shorts more engaging and accessible, especially for users watching videos in silent mode.
Automatic subtitles are directly accessible from the YouTube Shorts creation interface.
You will be able to customize these subtitles with different fonts and colors to perfectly match your style and the aesthetic of your channel.
This latest improvement, although less attractive than specialized tools like Submagic, will allow creators who do not wish to invest in third-party tools to optimize the performance of their short videos.
The growing importance of shorts on YouTube
These new features prove that YouTube does not want to limit itself to long content on its platform.
Since their launch, the social network has given them an increasingly important place on the home page of its network, and the Shorts are gaining popularity with more than 70 billion daily views on the platform.
Today, according to YouTube, approximately 25% of creators in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) now generate revenue from shorts, making them increasingly attractive to shorts.