You’re scrolling through your phone, flicking past a guy cooking a steak in the woods, then a puppy sneezing, then a 60-second clip of a podcast you’ve never heard of. It feels like this has been the YouTube experience forever. But honestly? It hasn’t.
If you’re wondering when were YouTube shorts created, the answer isn’t just a single date on a calendar. It was more of a slow-motion explosion.
YouTube didn't just wake up one day and decide to be TikTok. It was a calculated, slightly panicked response to the fact that everyone—literally everyone—was starting to watch video vertically.
The Day the Vertical Revolution Started
The official birth certificate for YouTube Shorts is dated September 14, 2020.
That’s when the beta first went live. But there’s a catch. If you were sitting in Chicago or London at the time, you didn't see it. YouTube strategically picked India as the testing ground.
Why India?
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Well, the Indian government had just banned TikTok a few months prior in June 2020. There was a massive, billion-person vacuum where short-form video used to live. YouTube saw the opening and took it. They launched a bare-bones version of the Shorts camera, giving Indian creators the first crack at the "multi-segment camera" that let them string clips together.
When Did Everyone Else Get It?
After the India experiment proved that people actually wanted to watch 15-second clips on a platform built for 15-minute essays, the rollout moved west.
- March 18, 2021: This is the big one for most of us. The Shorts beta finally landed in the United States.
- July 2021: The "global" release. YouTube pushed the feature to over 100 countries.
- February 2022: The "Beta" tag was finally ripped off. Shorts became a permanent, official part of the ecosystem.
It’s kinda wild to think that in 2020, people were still asking if "vertical video" was just a fad. By 2026, it’s basically the heartbeat of the platform.
Why YouTube Had to Pivot (Hard)
For over a decade, the "expert" advice for YouTube was: high production, horizontal 16:9 aspect ratio, and long watch times. Then TikTok happened.
YouTube realized that their younger audience was migrating. They weren't leaving for better content; they were leaving for faster content.
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The creation of Shorts wasn't just about adding a feature. It was about survival. They needed to prove they could handle "snackable" content without losing the "prestige" of their long-form library. Honestly, it was a messy transition. For the first year, the Shorts player felt like a weird bolt-on to the app. It didn't even have its own tab at the start! You had to find them on the home shelf, which felt sorta clunky.
The Evolution: From 15 Seconds to 3 Minutes
When YouTube Shorts were first created, you were capped at a measly 15 seconds if you used the in-app camera. If you uploaded a file, you could go up to 60 seconds.
That changed.
By 2024 and heading into 2025, YouTube realized creators needed more breathing room. They eventually bumped the limit to 3 minutes for vertical videos. This was a huge shift. It allowed for actual storytelling—mini-vlogs and recipes that didn't feel like they were on fast-forward.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Launch
A common misconception is that Shorts started with the "Shorts Fund."
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Actually, the $100 million YouTube Shorts Fund didn't launch until May 2021. Before that, you were basically making Shorts for the "exposure." There was no direct way to get paid. It wasn't until February 2023 that Shorts were officially integrated into the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), allowing creators to get a 45% cut of the ad revenue shared across the feed.
That was the turning point. Once the money showed up, the "real" creators followed.
How to Make It Work for You Now
If you’re looking at these dates and thinking you missed the boat, you haven't. But the game has changed since 2020.
Back then, you could post a video of your cat falling off a sofa and get 5 million views because the algorithm was hungry for anything vertical. Today, the algorithm is much pickier. It looks for "Intentionality."
- The First 3 Seconds: These are the only seconds that matter. If they don't stop the thumb, you're dead in the water.
- Looping is King: The best Shorts are the ones where the end flows perfectly back into the beginning. The "infinite loop" trick tricks the algorithm into thinking people are watching your video 200% of the way through.
- SEO Still Matters: Even though it’s a swipe-based feed, the title and description help YouTube figure out whose "For You" page to put you on. Use those keywords naturally.
The Actionable Bottom Line
The timeline of YouTube Shorts—from a 2020 experiment in India to a global powerhouse in 2026—shows one thing: short-form is here to stay.
If you want to grow a channel today, you can't ignore it. Start by taking your most successful long-form video, finding the "peak" in the retention graph, and cutting that 60-second highlight into a Short. Link it back to the original video using the "Related Video" feature in YouTube Studio. This creates a bridge between your "discovery" content (Shorts) and your "relationship" content (long-form).
Success isn't about being first to the platform anymore; it's about being the most consistent in the feed.