YouTube Shorts have now surpassed traditional videos in ad revenue, so don’t be surprised if your favorite creators start uploading more clips instead of long-form form content.
In 2021, YouTube launched Shorts as its answer to TikTok, letting creators post quick, short-form clips.
It’s taken a few years, but as of Q3 2025, Shorts have now overtaken YouTube videos as the platform’s main ad revenue driver.
According to the Google-owned video site, YouTube advertising revenues increased by 15% to $10.3 billion.
Speaking during Alphabet’s Q3 2025 earnings call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the growing success of Shorts. “In the U.S., Shorts now earn more revenue per watch hour than traditional in-stream on YouTube,” he said.
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YouTube Shorts overthrows traditional videos as platform makes $10.3B
Shorts’ success will undoubtedly spark some concern from viewers who go on YouTube for long, engaging videos and not shorter clips.
Earlier in 2025, many users went viral expressing their dislike of Shorts and how they felt that type of content would be better suited as its own app separate from YouTube.
Surprisingly, YouTube responded to the criticism, stating how they “appreciate everyone for sharing their candid POVs” and relayed their thoughts to the relevant Product teams.
However, it seems unlikely that YouTube will be limiting how many Shorts are shown, especially with how much money they’re making.
Back in June, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan revealed that Shorts had surged past TikTok, averaging 200 billion views every single day.
Shorts have greatly benefited the world’s most subscribed YouTuber, too. In September, it was revealed that MrBeast’s Shorts had overtaken his main videos in total viewership.
One of his Shorts even set the record for views in 24 hours after hitting 68,047,973 views in just one day.
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