YouTube launched its short-form video experience on Thursday (March 18) in beta for select users in the U.S. after a successful initial rollout in India last month, according to a blog post by Todd Sherman, the product lead for YouTube Shorts.

“The number of Indian channels using our creation tools has more than tripled since the beginning of December alone,” Sherman said in the post.

YouTube Shorts lets users create short videos using a smartphone. More than 6.5 billion people tuned into YouTube Shorts worldwide since December 2020, and the number of Indian channels using the tool has more than tripled. “We’ll gradually expand our Shorts beta to the U.S. We plan to introduce more features as we continue to build Shorts alongside creators and artists,” Sherman said in the post.

YouTube also is testing out a Shorts tab on mobile for single-tap access.

As part of the beta rollout in the U.S., YouTube will offer a growing catalog of music from over 250 labels and publishers — Universal, Sony, Warner, Believe, Merlin, 300 Entertainment, Kobalt, Beggars, CD Baby, Empire, Peer, Reservoir, OneRPM and more.

Read it a the Source: YouTube Takes On TikTok With Short-Form Videos | PYMNTS.com