With the launch of its Shorts feature TikTok, the market leader in the short video space. Although TikTok's monopoly in the market may seem insurmountable, both Instagram and YouTube are huge social media and video players themselves. The question is how well each of them can leverage their existing bases to muscle in on the act.
Instagram Reels was the first of the two to market, introduced in August 2020. Like TikTok, it allows s to create and post short videos and to browse through a never-ending feed of other Reels that is based on their activity on the app. Such is its similarity to TikTok that Instagram has told s not to republish content that "is visibly recycled from other apps" if they want their content to be as discoverable as possible, meaning it wasn't too keen on seeing TikTok's watermark all over its platform.
rolled out to the US last week. Like its competitors, Shorts allows s to record short clips and post them to their profile, as well as to explore other short video content. Now that Shorts is fully up-and-running, its immediate competitor is the preexisting Instagram Reels.
How YouTube Shorts & Instagram Reels Compare
YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have many similar capabilities. Both allow s to use music from existing song libraries on the apps or audio from other Reels and Shorts, add text to videos, change the speed of videos before posting, and start recording using a countdown timer. However, there are also some differences between the two. Shorts videos recorded on the YouTube app itself can be a maximum of 15 seconds, but s can videos of up to 60 seconds. Instagram Reels, meanwhile, has a maximum video length of 30 seconds, whether recorded or ed. While Shorts doesn’t allow the use of any augmented reality filters while recording, Instagram Reels does offer these filters. YouTube also has plans to allow s to add audio from other YouTube videos in the future — something that Instagram obviously could not match.
As of now, it seems that Reels is best for those looking for an alternative to TikTok. Although s can create and longer videos on Shorts, the layout of YouTube compared to Instagram is less efficient. Now that Reels has become a separate tab on the Instagram app, it’s easier for s to access and explore Reels without feeling like it is too much of a departure from the usual feel of the Instagram feed. Additionally, Instagram allows s to send these Reels and other content to friends via direct messaging. YouTube’s main overall feature is searching for and watching longer videos, with its design keeping attention away from the new Shorts feature. On top of this, YouTube lacks a direct messaging system, making it harder for s to expand the audience of their short videos or easily share others by sending them to friends.
Although Instagram Reels does seem like the better option compared to YouTube Shorts, both platforms have an extremely long way to go if they want to catch up to TikTok’s success. TikTok is currently reigning with over two billion s and hundreds of millions of monthly active s. On top of this, unlike Reels and Shorts, it is solely dedicated to short video content, allowing all of the attention and activity to be focused on creating and sharing TikToks. It’s clear that even with Reels and Shorts entering the market, it will take a while for any platform to get close to TikTok.