Google wants to reel in creators for YouTube Shorts with $100M fund - Android

Google wants YouTube Shorts to hit the ground running.

What you need to know

• Google is launching a $100M fund for YouTube Shorts creators.
• Creators with popular or viral Shorts will receive rewards from the fund.
• The $100 YouTube Shorts Fund will be distributed throughout 2021, 2022.

Google is hoping to bolster its new YouTube Shorts platform by announcing a new fund to entice creators to the platform. The YouTube Shorts Fund will distribute $100 million to creators throughout 2021 and 2022, rewarding creators for posts that garner the most engagement.

According to Google, the company will reach out to creators every month to reward them. The fund is available to anyone who creates original, engaging shorts, not just those of the YouTube Partner Program. Shorts must be original and follow community guidelines to be considered for the fund. Google is holding onto additional details about the fund, but for now, it seems to be only available to users in the U.S. and India, the two countries where the beta was initially launched.

Google states that the YouTube Shorts Fund is the first step in its mission to monetize its TikTok and Instagram Reels competitor:

YouTube has helped an entire generation of creators and artists turn their creativity into businesses. We've paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years, and we remain deeply committed to supporting the next generation of mobile creators with Shorts.

YouTube Shorts beta first launched in India before expanding to the U.S. on some of the best Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21. Google notes that it is still working some things out with Shorts, such as ads and bringing its Shorts player to more devices.

Google also highlights some features that it's bringing to YouTube Shorts, such as remixing audio from eligible videos within a Short. This feature will likely be available for videos that allow it, as Google rolls out additional Shorts permissions for creators to opt-out of their content being used in Shorts. Other features Google highlights include basic filters, automatic captions, and mixing existing clips from your gallery into recordings.

It's currently unknown how much individual creators can make from the fund. Google states that more details will be announced in the coming months.