The only way is up: Unlocking the secret to sports on YouTube Shorts
Robbie Spargo, Little Dot Studios’ director of sport, shares best practice when it comes to creating sports content for YouTube Shorts, the short-form section of YouTube where the focus is on vertical videos of 60 seconds or less.
Vertical video has revolutionised digital content in a dizzyingly short space of time. And while TikTok was the original trailblazer, YouTube has increasingly managed to match that growth through the rollout of Shorts. It is now estimated that Shorts account for at least 40% of total views on the platform.
While that level of viewing is hard to ignore, key questions remain for Sports brands wanting to make the most of Shorts. Beyond views alone, why should you use Shorts? What drives the performance of Shorts? What is the best practice for creating them?
We analysed 1,430 YouTube Shorts within our network of sports channels to get some answers.
Why use Shorts?
Okay, getting loads of views is great but most brands want to understand the role content is playing as part of their overall strategy. We found that Shorts present an opportunity for you to reach new audiences on your channel, particularly young, female audiences, driving them to become subscribers.
“The principles of Shorts are fundamentally different to TikTok and so creating Shorts content requires a different approach.”
Over 70% of Shorts views came from viewers aged between 18-34 years-old, compared to only 48% on Video content. Female viewers between 18-24 also strongly over-indexed on Shorts, representing 25% of all Shorts viewing vs 15% on Videos. When looking at the UK-only, Shorts proved similarly popular with female audiences, with 29% of UK Shorts views coming from female viewers compared to just 8% globally.
And Shorts are not only able to reach these audiences but are extremely effective at converting them into subscribers. Our analysis found that Shorts were more than 5x better than Videos at winning new subscribers to a channel.
What drives the performance of Shorts?
Robbie Spargo: “Clip out extraordinary or unexpected match moments or reversion your best originals.”
For years, watch time has been the No. 1 metric for YouTube video performance. But has this explosion of short-form content ripped up the rulebook? Short answer…no! The longer you can keep people watching, the better your Short will perform.
Not only did we see a very clear correlation between average view duration and average view per Short, but we found that the most successful length of Short was between 51-60 seconds. This suggests that the best Shorts keep people watching for longer.
Therefore when creating Shorts you want to:
a) Create long-form Shorts which retain viewers for as long as possible
b) If you create short-form Shorts, you want to be sure it’s because viewers are going to watch them several times through
What is best practice for Shorts?
We found that Shorts on average have 4x higher views 30 days after publishing than they did on the day they were released. Instead of burning bright and fading, Shorts build views over time. Even if they go viral, it usually takes a number of days for them to take off. In short, Shorts are evergreen and this makes them different from TikTok.
The difference between Shorts and TikTok is further evidenced when analysing editorial data. We found that Shorts created bespoke for the platform delivered 18x more views than content reversioned from TikTok or Instagram Reels. Shorts also performed much better when in-app text and music were not included, despite these being key recommendations for creating TikTok content.
Therefore it appears that the principles of Shorts are fundamentally different to TikTok and so creating Shorts content requires a different approach. But if you’re not following trends, what should you be doing on Shorts?
We found there to be some consistently successful strands for Shorts in sports:
- Match clips. Don’t overthink it! Clips of incredible match action with little to no editing work wonders on Shorts
- Reversioned originals. Take your best long-form original content and create bespoke, vertical-friendly versions for Shorts
- Moments you may have missed. Shorts are perfect for those funny and unexpected moments that wouldn’t make the standard highlights reel
Our top takeaways…
- Win new fans. Shorts can help you reach new audiences, particularly younger, female audiences, driving them to become subscribers.
- Go long, despite the name. If you do go short, people must watch multiple times.
- Shorts and TikTok are not the same. They require a different approach.
- Keep things simple. Clip out extraordinary or unexpected match moments or reversion your best originals.