YouTube Shorts is seeing a major jump in daily views. At this year’s Cannes Lions festival, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced that Shorts now averages more than 200 billion views per day. That is nearly three times what it was just over a year ago, when YouTube reported 70 billion daily views in March 2024.

“At YouTube, we’re seeing a huge uptick in the number of people creating and watching Shorts,” Mohan wrote. This 186% increase in daily viewership highlights how fast Shorts has grown since launching in 2021 and how central it is becoming in YouTube’s broader video strategy.

The rapid rise in Shorts engagement puts YouTube in closer competition with TikTok and Instagram Reels. Like its rivals, YouTube is now making short-form content longer. In October 2024, the company extended the maximum length of Shorts from 60 seconds to 3 minutes. This gives creators more room to experiment without forcing them to switch formats or platforms.

Veo 3 is coming to Shorts to boost AI-powered content creation

To support this creator boom, YouTube is adding new AI tools to its platform. Mohan announced that Veo 3, Google DeepMind’s latest video generation model, will be available for Shorts later this summer. The tool aims to allow creators to generate backgrounds and AI-edited video clips directly within Shorts.

Recently, the video platform has also added new search features to Shorts. For instance, the company is testing a new visual search feature using Google Lens within Shorts. This could allow viewers to tap on objects or scenes and get instant information.

Viewership is shifting from phones to TVs

Mohan claims YouTube’s larger ecosystem is also expanding. According to him, more than half of the top 100 YouTube channels are now being watched primarily on TV screens. Globally, viewers are watching over 1 billion hours of YouTube on TVs every day, he noted. In the U.S. alone, TV has overtaken mobile as the main way people watch YouTube.

Recent reports show that the platform was the most-watched streaming service in April 2025, ahead of Netflix and Disney+.

YouTube expands language access and podcast viewership

In addition to video updates, YouTube is expanding its reach in audio. Mohan said one billion people are now watching podcasts on YouTube every month. The platform also said its Auto Dubbing tool has processed more than 20 million videos since launching six months ago. The tool currently supports nine languages and plans to add 11 more soon.

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