The Google-owned video platform is making it harder for creators to cross-post the same content to TikTok.
The California-based video sharing platform is fully aware that content creators are posting their YouTube Shorts to TikTok and now, the Google-owned company is placing a watermark on those videos. In an update on new features, YouTube said that they have rolled out a watermark on Shorts downloaded from the YouTube Studio.
"We've added a watermark to the Shorts you download so your viewers can see that the content you're sharing across platforms can be found on YouTube Shorts," the Google-owned organization reasoned in the update. They added that the feature will be released over the next few weeks on desktop and within the next few months for mobile.
YouTube Competes with TikTok
Many creators and influencers often make short form videos in one app, download the video, and repost the same content to other platforms, The Verge reported. Creators often do this to reach the widest audience possible, especially when not all of their followers are on one platform only.
Now, YouTube is adding watermarks to its downloaded YouTube Shorts just like TikTok videos have long featured watermarks and the creator's username so that viewers can easily look up the original content creator on the app. It even appears in different parts of the screen to avoid getting cropped out.
It is also common practice for Instagram Reels creators to repost their TikTok videos that include watermarks instead of creating new videos. In 2021, Instagram announced that it won't promote Reels that featured TikTok's watermark. In April this year, Instagram added that it would improve on its algorithm to prioritize "original content," as a way to entice creators to make new content just for Instagram Reels. TechCrunch reported that for now, users can still download a draft from Instagram Reels without a watermark.
YouTube first launched Shorts in 2020 and since then has been heavily promoting the feature as a way to compete with the short video giant, TikTok. In fact, YouTube allotted up to $100 million for Shorts creators. Shorts are also being heavily featured on the YouTube app, appearing in the recommendations and Shorts tab.
TikTok Overtakes Silicon Valley
As Fortune reported, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and if the last couple of years is indicative of how big tech giants Google and Meta are dying to have the piece of the pie that is being dominated by TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance. Silicon Valley has been scrambling to compete with TikTok, which has amassed 1 billion users and for good reason.
In the US alone, 67% of teens admitted to ever using TikTok, while 16% said they use it almost constantly, the latest findings from the Pew Research Center revealed. Meanwhile, the share of teens who said they use Facebook, which dominated similar surveys in 2014 to 2015, has dropped from 71% then to 32% today.
In the same Pew survey, YouTube is actually the number one online platform used by teens aged 13 to 17, with 95% followed by TikTok with 67%. Instagram and Snapchat follows with 62% and 59%, respectively.
