YouTube adds a multi-format news watch page, launches a program to help news organizations create Shorts | TechCrunch

YouTube is launching two new initiatives to make it easier for users to watch the latest news stories and to help news organizations create Shorts. The first initiative is an immersive watch page experience for news stories, while the second is the launch of the Shorts Innovation Program for News.

In a blog post, YouTube shared that the news watch page will showcase content from news sources across video on demand, live streams, podcasts and Shorts. The idea behind the new page is allow users to explore multiple sources across long-form video, live coverage and short-form video.

You can open the watch page for a specific news topic by clicking on a video with the newspaper icon on the YouTube homepage or in search results. The new watch page is rolling out over time on mobile in around 40 countries. YouTube plans to launch desktop and TV versions of the feature in the future. The Google-owned company says it “believes this updated news experience will help viewers access a range of credible and diverse voices when they want to dive into a news topic.”

As for the Shorts Innovation Program for News, Youtube is looking to help news organizations create short-form video content through financial grants and support. To start, YouTube is working with more than 30 organizations across 10 countries and providing them with a total of $1.6 million to fund their efforts.

“Participants are selected based on having a strong existing long-form video presence on YouTube, but are looking to improve and expand their Shorts news content creation,” the company wrote in the blog post. “Over the next year, YouTube specialists will work with news organizations, including Univision in the U.S., AFP in France, and Mediacorp in Singapore on Shorts content strategy and video production best practices.”

YouTube says the goal of the program is to help news publishers who are interested in developing short-form content, but don’t have the resources to do so.

A lot of news organizations have fully embraced TikTok, so it makes sense for YouTube to try to expand Shorts news content on its platform to compete, especially by bringing on publishers who have yet to delve into short-form video.