Last year Google debuted Shorts, a short video platform, in India and recently we learned that Google is soon launching YouTube Shorts beta in the US next month. Now ahead of this launch, the search giant is reportedly testing YouTube Shorts in the “Short videos” carousel of Discover. To those unaware, Google Discover has a “Short videos” carousel that it launched back in August last year to join webpages, regular videos, and sometime later AMP-based Web Stories. But now, YouTube Shorts have started surfacing in the carousel.
Recent update shows the cards for the YouTube content feature the YouTube play logo at the top-left corner. Below that, there appears the title of the video followed by “YouTube”. When you tap the card, it opens the YouTube app along with a new full screen player where users can like/dislike, see comments, share, and see “More”. Tapping the “More” option reveals Description, Report, or Send feedback options. Like the usual Shorts in the YouTube app, it also doesn’t have a seek bar except a control for play/pause. Users can swipe up or down to go to the next or previous video.
YouTube Shorts in Google Discover: Details
“Short videos” first appeared in Discover last year, and it showed short video clips from Indian TikTok competitor Trell and Tangi, a Google Area 120 project focused on 60-second DIY videos. In Discover, there’s an option titled “Don’t show this again” in the overflow menu to not see videos you don’t like. The carousel appears alongside the AMP stories and displays 10 videos. Shorts are up to 15 seconds long videos that are created using a “Shorts camera” present in the YouTube app. However, it’s currently available in India only.
Users can create Shorts using their YouTube app by going to the Create menu in the app’s bottom bar. You get to select music, adjust video speed, and set a hands-free Countdown timer while recording a short video. However, the video-streaming giant is encouraging Creators to upload up to 60 seconds short vertical videos and tag them #Shorts in the title or description. While you can see these videos on the YouTube app on your phone, they’re now also coming to Discover.
Reportedly, Discover has already started surfacing regular YouTube content as full cards. The addition of Shorts is also a good way to boost the service’s beta format that’s coming to the US. Some users have already received the new feature in Google Discover on their phones. However, this is still in testing and not all users have received it yet. The company should roll it out to a wider audience in the coming days.
