“Should’ve been a separate app”: As YouTube Shorts hits new milestone of 200 billion views per day, YouTube users revolt against the shortform experience
A new record broken by YouTube's short-form video feature, YouTube Shorts, has only enraged the platform's user base.
Why are YouTube Shorts receiving backlash?
While YouTube Shorts are widely popular with the public, their biggest opponent is YouTubers. However, there are countless theories swirling around that the short-form, vertical TikTok competitor actually harms creators. These reasons include diverting views from long-form content and being shown/prioritized across the website instead of longer videos.
For instance, X user Lashaya Lark opined: "Shorts should’ve been a separate app. It’s ruined the YouTube experience, every search is flooded with Shorts now."
Another described YouTube's search function as "completely broken and useless," while a third warned, "The more you watch, the more they take over the UI."
In agreement with these other users, a fourth described the format of Shorts as "painful." A fifth complained that "there’s no way" to turn off this onslaught of Shorts when searching on YouTube.
Despite its issues, YouTube Shorts is a hit
However, despite this resistance, it's fair to say that YouTube Shorts are more popular than ever. During Cannes Lions last month, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan revealed that YouTube Shorts are amassing a whopping 200 billion views per day.
Comparatively, TikTok amasses 1 billion daily views — so this really puts Shorts' popularity into perspective. Amid all this worry about the TikTok ban, it looks like Americans have been focusing on the wrong app.
Still, classic YouTube users aren't happy
Predictably, users aren't thrilled about this, with many of them sharing their views across platforms like Reddit.
In one post following this announcement, a Redditor shared Lashaya Lark's X post about YouTube Shorts on the r/YouTube subreddit, and asked Reddit users for their opinion on it—and it's fair to say that they didn't mince their words.
One of the most upvoted comments reads: "I 100% agree with this post. Shorts content is just so annoying to deal with. YouTube is the one place where I don't want to watch shorts and actually want to watch full-length videos."
While another complains, "If you try to search for something even remotely obscure, your results’ll be flooded with random Shorts videos that have nothing to do with your search."
A third speculates, "I am convinced that if YT Shorts were a separate app, they would get much much less views. Which is exactly why YouTube would never make them a separate app."
Whether or not Shorts' success is bolstered by being part of YouTube, it's clear that, with this level of success, they won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here.
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
The post “Should’ve been a separate app”: As YouTube Shorts hits new milestone of 200 billion views per day, YouTube users revolt against the shortform experience appeared first on The Daily Dot.