YouTube Shorts are now available in a television-optimized format, the company announced Yesterday. Owners of Android TVs or Google TVs will now be able to view short-form videos via the YouTube app. The company’s updated smart TV app will now allow users to view the popular vertical videos in an optimized experience that’s designed to feel more consistent with what users see on mobile, YouTube explains.
The new Shorts-watching feature will require a smart TV from 2019 or later, a newer gaming console or a streaming device, YouTube says. The videos themselves can be found on the new Shorts shelf on the homepage of the YouTube app or on a creator’s channel page.
The Google-owned video-sharing platform experimented with employing a conventional video player and a “jukebox” style format, in which multiple Shorts would display simultaneously, before finally settling on a layout with a clean design that still takes advantage of the television’s additional screen space.
You can also use the remote to start or stop the Shorts video from playing by clicking directly on the short or by using the Play and Pause buttons on the remote control itself. YouTube Shorts has reached 30 billion daily views, and is growing exponentially. YouTube isn’t the first service to bring short-form vertical videos to the TV screen. TikTok has been experimenting with smart TV interfaces for some time.
