Short-form videos are becoming more and more popular, and social media sites such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are all engaged in fierce competition.
Even though users can already access the majority of these short videos on their smartphones via the Imternet, Google is moving things forward by making YouTube Shorts available on smart TVs. This might put YouTube ahead of competitors TikTok and Instagram.
YouTube is reportedly working on a new feature called “Mosaic Mode, which will allow viewers to watch up to four live streams simultaneously. It announced plans at a non-public presentation.
The event brought together device manufacturers to talk about Google Android TV, the Google TV platform, and YouTube viewing experiences.
The event also apparently discussed ways to improve the overall user experience, such as bringing YouTube Shorts to smart TVs.
The report suggests that the YouTube Shorts interface on smart TVs could eventually ditch the scroll-bar used to scrub through traditional YouTube videos, and also offer quick access to thumbs up and thumbs down buttons.
Although YouTube Shorts are currently watchable in YouTube’s app on some smart TVs (such as LG’s) they play using a standard YouTube interface that’s not well-suited for their short-form style.
The report notes that the feature will likely arrive on non-Android smart TVs from Samsung and LG given that Google likes to keep its services consistent across different hardware.
Bringing YouTube Shorts to smart TVs will give Google an edge over TikTok and Instagram. TikTok launched an app for LG and Samsung smart TVs as well as Amazon’s Fire TV devices and Google’s Chromecast in November 2021.
Nonetheless, YouTube’s app for these platforms has an advantage — it comes pre-installed on most TVs and streaming sticks, while you would have to download the TikTok app for Android TV separately.
At the event, YouTube also outlined plans to enhance YouTube Music on smart TVs with the ability to add playlists and albums to your library without leaving the TV interface.
The company also discussed a new Mosaic Mode for the live television YouTube TV app (not to be confused with the regular YouTube app for smart TVs) allowing you to watch up to four live streams simultaneously in a grid view on a TV screen.
There is no official confirmation for these features yet, but we don’t see a reason why YouTube would pass up the opportunity to let creators engage a wider audience with Shorts, and ape TikTok yet again.
YouTube is the largest video content repository on the internet and is mainly known for long-form videos. But with the rise of TikTok, shorter videos have become very popular, with Instagram launching Reels and YouTube with Shorts.
As the company continues to build new features to its short-form video platform, it is beginning to utilize its biggest strength — the massive catalog of videos already on the site.
