YouTube Shorts Introduces Longer Videos, Templates, & More

Short-form content has been a hit on YouTube ever since the platform introduced Shorts. While it’s fun scrolling endlessly on videos that are 60 seconds or shorter, every once in a while, you may wish that a video could have been longer. Well, it looks like YouTube has listened, and you’ll soon see longer videos on Shorts.

In an official blog post, YouTube revealed a slew of updates for its Shorts platform. The biggest of these changes is that creators will now be able to upload Shorts “up to 3 minutes long”. This will apply to videos with tall or square aspect ratios.

The platform is also rolling out a Templates feature. This will allow creators to re-use video styles and sounds from others’ videos when making their own Shorts. Users can access templates by accessing the Remix option when viewing a Shorts video and tapping on Use this template to recreate it their own way.

Another thing shared here seems to be the Dream Screen feature that we were fortunate to check out at the recent “Google for India” event. The feature implements Google DeepMind models to create custom backgrounds so that creators can be more expressive with their work.

Furthermore, YouTube is giving users the freedom to customize their feed. If you don’t like to see Shorts on your home feed, you can temporarily hide them. You’ll be able to hide a Shorts grid from your home feed by tapping on the 3-dots icon and choosing Show fewer Shorts.

Lastly, the platform is also adding a new Shorts “Trends” page on the YouTube mobile apps. This page will make it easier for users to discover what’s trending in their region.

As for availability, Longer Shorts will be available to creators starting from October 15 with the rest of the additions rolling out shortly. YouTube says we may see the Dream Screen feature sometime “later this year”.

These updates and improvements should help YouTube Shorts compete with TikTok, which has been the go-to app for short-form content. What do you think about these new YouTube Shorts features? Is there anything you’re excited to use? Let us know in the comments.