Amid TikTok’s meteoric rise, many marketers may be wondering whether YouTube is still relevant. The short answer is yes. But YouTube will need to carve its own niche in creators, commerce, and short video to stay relevant in 2022 and beyond.

YouTube’s short-video and commerce ambitions rely on creator adoption and participation. Creators are the lifeblood of YouTube, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that they have the power to move audiences to new features or formats, as well as sway purchase decisions.

This year, TikTok will surpass YouTube in terms of time spent by their respective adult users in the US. The short-video app will see 45.8 minutes per day from its average adult user, edging out YouTube, at 45.6 minutes.

The company formerly known as Facebook will face its toughest challenges ever, while viral commerce will take center stage, TikTok-style short videos will evolve, and social audio will fade away.

Ad revenues for short-video-sharing app TikTok and Chinese sister app Douyin will hit $31.66 billion this year to account for 5.3% of the global digital ad market.

In 2022, China’s tech sector will continue dealing with a new regulatory climate, resulting in some new winners and a few familiar losers. Short-form video will make gains with commerce, and the metaverse will rear its head.

Facebook Reels’ global rollout comes with fresh ad formats: The new banner and sticker ads both attract creators to the platform and offer marketers performance ad options for short-form video.

Among US social video viewers, YouTube is the top platform for watching short-form content, with 77.9% of those ages 16 and older going there to stream videos less than 10 minutes long. The No. 2 spot goes to Facebook, which captures a 60.8% share, while TikTok takes third with 53.9%.

On today's episode, we discuss what the next, most important initiatives will be for TikTok. We then talk about what YouTube plans to do with its short-form video format "Shorts" and whether LinkedIn's audio events will work out. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

TikTok takes up more of its users’ time than any other social media platform in the US. This year, adult TikTok users will spend an average of 38 minutes per day on the short-video app. Twitter ranks second, with a daily average of 35 minutes, while third-place Facebook will see 31 minutes per day from the average adult user.

The major social platforms hit the ground running in 2021, making substantial investments into many of today’s top social trends: audio, influencers, and short video, to name a few.

The short-video landscape is bigger than just TikTok. Marketers must develop a strategy to make the most of this form of marketing across multiple venues.

User-generated short videos are all over the internet, from TikTok to Instagram Reels to Triller, and the marketing opportunities are exploding. Here’s how the main venues compare across usage, paid advertising, organic and influencer marketing, and commerce.

Many US consumers are now regularly watching short-form video, according to a September 2021 Inmar Intelligence survey. When Inmar asked respondents to rank various social media content formats in order of preference, short videos tied with images as the most preferred format, ahead of text, long-form video, live video, and GIFs. TikTok has an unsurprisingly strong grip on short-video audiences.

An app consisting primarily of short videos (with some that reach 10 minutes) now racks up as much time spent as a platform built on long-form video. But there’s plenty of room for both services in the lives of video-loving young people.

As a result, Instagram will benefit from the exodus of younger users from platforms like Facebook, users’ love of short-form video content (Reels and Stories), and its sophisticated algorithm—which tailors content based on how people use different parts of the app. Instagram surpassed 200 million users in Latin America in 2021.

Keep it short. Video ads should be short and convey branding information quickly. Shorter ads are particularly critical on in-feed placements, where users are rapidly scrolling. Advertisers recommended keeping videos under 15 or 30 seconds for upper-funnel video ads and shorter than 10 seconds for lower-funnel.

In this short video, Insider Intelligence vice president Marissa Coslov explains.

TikTok is going through a period of explosive growth, but pivoting to short-form video isn’t a guaranteed silver bullet for Meta. Reels—which is full of TikTok reposts—ranked third as the preferred short-form video platform of US consumers over 18 (20.1%) behind YouTube Shorts (25.3%) and TikTok (48.5%), according to Inmar Intelligence.

Short-form video (for example, a 10-second video showing off a product feature or a 45-second room transformation video on Instagram) is how we are pushing the medium forward, both on our website and social channels to show off products.

Instagram and YouTube are trying to take on TikTok's short-form dominance with Reels and Shorts, respectively. Meanwhile, TikTok is looking to other competitors, including Twitter with the introduction of a Repost function, Snapchat and Instagram with Stories, and Twitch with desktop livestreaming software.