3 YouTube trends that will boost your video strategy in 2023

With the launch of YouTube Shorts in July last year, YouTube took on short-form platform TikTok. Every month, more than 1.5 billion YouTube users consume the iconic, vertical videos of up to 60 seconds. This battle became even more evident last year and this will not change in 2023. Indeed, short-form content is more popular than ever, and that is driving video platforms like YouTube to want to dominate this trend. That’s why YouTube is launching its biggest offensive against TikTok to date: making money directly from Shorts will become even easier in 2023.

Revenue from ads – in between Shorts – will form one revenue pool, which will be distributed to Short creators based on the number of views obtained. With these new monetisation options, YouTube is making itself an increasingly attractive platform for creative talent seriously looking to make money with Shorts. Which is not offered by TikTok enough, according to many.

But not only creators are reaping the benefits of this YouTube trend, YouTube Shorts also offers numerous opportunities for you as a marketer; both organic and paid.

As an advertiser, this means you can now also broaden your ad strategy to short, vertical ads of at least ten seconds. 75% of all active YouTube users also watch YouTube Shorts. This makes this new feature a great place to reach your target audience in a new way.

In addition, Google very recently announced major changes for its search engine in 2023 and the years to follow. The rise of AI will allow Google to answer the public’s queries in a much richer way. Whereas at first it was mainly text results that dominated, this will now be a combination of text, images and moving images. So video is going to play an increasingly important role in people’s search behaviour. This presents opportunities for your brand to rank organically with video. Not only with long-form video, but also short-form! Yes, you read it correctly; Shorts now also appear in the search results of Google and YouTube. This presents huge opportunities for brands. From Google’s search results, you can now also gain traffic to your Short, as long as it provides the right answer to the Google user’s question or search intent.

Last but not least, research shows that 59% of Gen Z watch longer versions of videos, which they discover on video apps where short-form is the norm (YouTube Culture & Trends Report, 2022). This makes YouTube Shorts the perfect feature to attract new audiences and direct them to the longer, organic videos on your YouTube channel.

Since the pandemic, YouTube has (unintentionally) become the most popular platform for podcasts. Especially in America, but also in the Netherlands, the number of listeners on YouTube has doubled. And the platform is going to increasingly embrace this role in the coming year. First of all, YouTube is doing this with a dedicated podcast page. This is still on roll-out in the US, but Europe won’t be long behind. But this is not all. Although we are talking about video podcasts for now, this seems set to change in 2023. YouTube is going to bet on audio podcasts. YouTube has already started using audio ads sold by Google as well as partners – if they are big enough. Revenue from these audio ads will most likely be shared with podcast creators. On top of that, the analytics for podcasts will be further enhanced. All in all, we can definitely say that YouTube will be the podcast platform of 2023. A trend that audio platforms like Spotify and Apple will have to watch out for. Want to read more about the podcasting YouTube trend? Read about YouTube podcasting here. 

Connected TV is a YouTube trend that has been on the radar for some time. So, not entirely unknown. However, streaming YouTube videos on the biggest screen in the living room will only increase in 2023. This trend was already accelerating last year: 36.4% of 2022 YouTube views came from Connected TVs, and this is expected to grow to almost 40% by 2023 (Tubefilter, 2022). YouTube is capitalising on this new streaming trend, which also opens up new opportunities for you as an advertiser. How? YouTube facilitates the tracking process by giving you visibility of which device your videos are being viewed on. This means you can tailor your advertising campaign on YouTube specifically to the method of streaming. Think of an awareness campaign for the Connected TV streamers, and more conversion-oriented ads on the mobile device.

40%

of the views on YouTube will come from Connected TVs in 2023

Meanwhile, the recession continues to be felt. Besides more expensive groceries and rising electricity prices, today’s marketer can no longer deny it: the scarcity in the television market is a fact and TV advertising prices are rising. In fact, the basic net price for television ads has increased by 14% to €695 per advertisement in the Netherlands (MarketingTribune, 2022). High demand and decreasing supply will continue to be a thing in 2023. So it is time to look for enrichment for your advertising strategy in the new year. YouTube advertising offers a multitude of advantages with which you can generate quality attention from your target audience. Curious for more? Here are five reasons why YouTube advertising is the solution for the scarce television market.

Born and raised on YouTube, we’ve developed a unique, data-driven approach to create effective videos. As the second-largest global search engine, tapping into YouTube’s full potential requires more than just uploading videos. A specialized YouTube agency can efficiently navigate this complex platform, ensuring your marketing investment translates into measurable results. Click here to learn more about a YouTube marketing agency.