YouTube has added YouTube Shorts data to its Analytics for Artists tool. The expanded metric, “Total Reach,” includes how many people an artist’s music is reaching across all formats, including official content uploaded by the artist, long-form videos uploaded by fans, and Shorts. Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of Music, said in a blog post that Shorts increased the average artist’s audience by more than 80% in January 2023, and artists who are active on Shorts saw more than 50% of their new channel subscribers coming directly from their Shorts posts on average.
YouTube Expands Analytics Tool to Include Shorts-Related Data
On March 31st, 2023, YouTube announced that it would expand its Analytics for Artists tool to include data related to YouTube Shorts, a popular feature of the platform. The expanded tool will provide artists and their teams with an overview of how their music is reaching audiences across YouTube, including Shorts, which are 15-second videos that users can create and share.
Prior to this update, the Total Reach metric included only official content uploaded by the artist and long-form videos uploaded by fans. The updated metric will show how many people an artist’s music is reaching across all formats, including Shorts. This new feature will be a valuable tool for artists and their teams as they continue to explore ways to promote their music and increase their audience.
According to Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of Music, fan-created Shorts increased the average artist’s audience of unique viewers by more than 80% in January 2023. Additionally, artists who are active on Shorts saw more than 50% of their new channel subscribers coming directly from their Shorts posts on average.
The company also announced that it would launch a new “Songs” section in its Analytics tool to help artists and their teams see how fans are listening to their music or creating with it, across all video formats. In the new Songs section, artists will see their top songs from the past 28 days and what songs are being most used in Shorts.
Cohen wrote in a blog post, “Shorts are the appetizer to the entrée. They are the entry point, leading fans to discover the depth of an artist’s catalog, including music videos, interviews, live performances, lyric videos, and more.” He cited examples of artists like Rema & Selena Gomez and Oliver Tree, who saw significant increases in viewership after leveraging Shorts to promote their music.
Rema & Selena Gomez surpassed 60 million unique viewers of their official music videos and Shorts for “Calm Down.” Fans then uploaded Shorts featuring their track, which took viewership to another level, adding 350 million unique viewers in January, an increase of over 500%. Meanwhile, Oliver Tree uploaded 20 Shorts and four long-form videos tied to his song “Miss You,” after which his channel’s monthly viewers increased from six million to 75 million in over four months. Users brought in another 1.8 billion views in January by uploading Shorts featuring the song.
By incorporating YouTube Shorts data to the Total Reach metric, the company may be looking to encourage more artists to use Shorts to promote their new music, which would lead to more daily views of Shorts.
The announcement comes after Google revealed last month that YouTube Shorts are now being watched by more than 1.5 billion logged-in users every month and averaging over 50 billion daily views. Although this is a notable milestone, it’s worth noting that the number of views on Shorts lags on Instagram and Facebook. Last October, Meta said that Reels garnered 140 billion daily views across both social networks.
YouTube has been looking for ways to increase viewership of Shorts. For instance, the company rolled out Shorts on TV last November. The move was seen as a way to help YouTube better challenge TikTok, which had also rolled out its own TV app to various platforms last year.
Overall, the expansion of the Analytics for Artists tool to include Shorts-related data is a positive development for artists and their teams. The increased visibility into how their music is reaching audiences across YouTube will help them make more informed decisions about how to promote their music and grow their audience. As Shorts continue to grow in popularity, it will be interesting to see how YouTube continues to develop and promote the feature, and how artists use it to connect with fans.
