Two YouTube experts (Paddy Galloway & Chris Gileta) shared the findings of a comprehensive study they conducted on 33 channels (5,400+ shorts). The results are super interesting, here is it summarized in 4 takeaways.
1. Length matters but is not everything
– Longer shorts performed much better on average in terms of views and average view duration. Shorts with an average duration higher than 50 seconds averaged 4.1 million views.
– There were outliers at all lengths, so creators should not feel compelled to make their videos a certain length.
2. Shorts with strong completion perform better
– Shorts with a viewed VS swiped away (VVSA) rate under 60% rarely performed well. The best-performing shorts typically had a VVSA rate between 70% and 90%.
– Engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments did not have a strong relationship with performance, although this may be subject to further testing.
3. Shorts boost fan base, especially for channels with a pre-existing audience base
– Long-form videos still convert subscribers better (per 10,000 views) than shorts on average, but when filtering for channels with over 1 million subscribers, shorts outperform in terms of sub conversion.
– Shorts are a good way to grow subscribers, especially considering how much lower effort is involved compared to long-form videos.
4. Monetization remains low and is not sensitive to video length
– The average RPM (Revenue Per Mille is a metric that represents how much money you’ve earned per 1,000 video views) for shorts is around $0.06
– Unlike long-form videos, the length of a short did not seem to lead to a meaningful difference in RPMs.
– The new partner split for shorts is more than double the shorts fund on average, which is promising for future monetization potential.
More details here on Paddy Galloway Twitter Account.
