YouTube viewers watch 2 billion hours of Shorts on TVs each month

Short-form video is a format that’s built for mobile — these vertically oriented videos are designed to fit the shape of a smartphone. But according to YouTube, this kind of content has become quite popular on the big screen. It seems counterintuitive, but the data is hard to argue against: YouTube viewers watch over 2 billion hours of YouTube Shorts — the platform’s clips that run up to three minutes — on TVs each month. “The living room is YouTube’s fastest-growing screen, and the Shorts experience is further helping connect viewers with the world’s most active creator community from the comfort of their couch,” said Kurt Wilms, YouTube’s Senior Director of Product Management for YouTube on TV. “We’ve found that audiences increasingly want to watch their favorite content on the biggest screen at home, whether it’s long-form content, a podcast, or a Short.” The living room has become a major growth target for YouTube overall. U.S. viewers alone are watching over 200 million hours of YouTube content daily. YouTube shows Shorts in search results from users watching on TV, so even if they didn’t set out to watch a minute-long clip on the big screen, they might end up checking one out anyway. Google TV, a platform from YouTube’s parent company Alphabet, recently announced a “Short videos for you” row on the Google TV feed, which is supposed to further boost watch time. …