Improving the Average Watch Time for

YouTube Shorts

Live Challenge -64

Submitted By:
Rishabh, IIFT 2020-22
LinkedIn
Problem Context
Android users now spend more time on TikTok than
on YouTube. American users consumed 24 hours of
content on TikTok in June 2021 compared to 22
hours and 40 minutes on YouTube.
This graph1 shows that from the period of July to
August 2021, the daily time spend in TikTok per user
has steadily risen past YouTube.
Problem Statement
YouTube Shorts want to leverage this insight to better serve the
creators and audience on YouTube Shorts. As V.P of Product for
YouTube, Shorts, produce a detailed plan for improving the
Average Watch Time for Shorts, covering: -
a) Product recommendation/features (at least 3)
a1) 1–2-line description of each Figma wireframe
b) Launch Plan and High-level A/B test construct for each
feature launch
c) Success metrics for each feature
Goal
• Make YouTube shorts more engaging for users and creators
• Give perks to users to use YouTube Shorts
• To increase the average watch time of YouTube Shorts
Assumptions
The scope of the problem is limited to YouTube mobile app.
1. https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/evolution-of-social-media-report/
 Revenue Streams
YouTube is an online video publishing platform by
Google. It is world’s second most visited website
behind Google with more than a billion monthly
users.
User Demographics
• 56% of YouTube Users are male
and 44% female
• 37% of millennials binge watch
YouTube Daily and 51% of its
Male Femals users are daily visitors
YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts is a short video platform
launched by YouTube in 2020 to
compete with other short video
platforms.
In May 2021, YouTube reported that
Shorts has 6.5 bn daily views compared
to 3.5 bn at the end of 2020.
Advertisements: YouTube runs ads on the
videos upload by its creators for the viewers.
The ad revenue is split between YouTube and
the creator
Also, other types of ads are also displayed such
as banner ads, display ads to generate revenue
SuperChats: During any live stream by a
creator, a viewer can send his message in the
form of superchat using an amount of money .
This money is shared between the creator and
YouTube
YouTube Premium: Revenue from the premium
membership taken by the users. Premium
membership by YouTube offers a lot of benefits
to subscribers, the most important one being a
total ad-free experience

Akash, 22 years
• Akash is a B.Tech student currently
residing in New Delhi
• He is an avid YouTube watcher and
likes to watch comedy sketches, music
videos on YouTube
• He has recently started watching
YouTube Shorts and is liking it
• He gets frustrated with the inflow of
YouTube ads that obstruct his viewing
pattern but doesn’t have enough money
to subscribe to YouTube Premium
User Personas
Mrs. Neelam, 46 years
• Mrs. Neelan is a housewife from
Kolkata
• She uses her phone during her free time
to watch videos
• She mostly likes to watch short form
content such as YouTube Shorts and
vertical videos from other platforms
• Although, she watches YouTube Shorts,
she feels that the content is copied
from other platforms and is reposted
Mr. Ashok, 52 years
• Mr. Ashok is senior manager at a steel
manufacturing firm living Bokaro
• He watches YouTube shorts to relax
after coming home after a hectic day at
work
• He has become fond of YouTube Shorts
but finds sometimes find the feed
irrelevant to his interests
• He is more interested in travel and
entertainment themed Shorts
 Feature #1: Shorts Categories
Description
• YouTube shorts will introduce a category selection page
where the user can select the categories he is interested in • Users can choose
categories based on their
• YouTube will tailor the shorts feed to pertain to his
interests interest
• On click, the button turns
• Once the user selects the categories, he will view shorts into dark red indicating
mostly from the categories selected but some also from that category is selected
the categories not selected. If he likes any video from
category not selected , he can like the video and that
category will automatically be added to his preference
• To view shorts only from the selected category, User can
also check the option available on the welcome page
• Users can also anytime uncheck this option in the settings
to return to normal mode
• Once selected, Users can view all their categories in the
subscription page in the Shorts section
Users can tick this option to
restrict videos in their shorts
feed to the selected
Expected Impact categories only
This feature will solve the pain point of users like Mr. Ashok
who want to view shorts in their categories and don’t want to
view any other categories/
With this feature, they can view shorts based on their
interests and hence the watch time will increase.
 Feature #1: Shorts Categories

Users can view

shorts in the
Users can click the subscription
buttons to like to page by clicking
show their interest in Shorts button
the category if not
selected earlier

Shorts appear as
categories
• This button shows the selected by the
category of the video users
while watching
• Users can click the
button to view more
videos in the category
 Feature #2: Watch Rewards
Description
• YouTube short will introduce a Watch Users are notified about
Rewards feature where users will be
their awards in the home
rewarded for watching Shorts
and history feeds
• YouTube will notify the users after they
complete a certain milestone in watch
time about their rewards
• The rewards will be of two categories:
ad free experience and background
playback in YouTube app
• The rewards will be limited to an upper
limit per day and will reset every new
day
• Ad free experience will boost the watch
time or normal YouTube videos as well
as YouTube Shorts Users receive this Pop-up
notification in the
YouTube App after
Expected Impact completing a certain
milestone notifying them
This feature will impact users like Akash about the reward.
who want an ad free experience on
YouTube but are not willing to subscribe
to YouTube Premium. They will watch
more videos on YouTube in order to
receive the awards
 Feature #3: Shorts Originals
Description
• Shorts Originals will be a feature where
On clicking the Shorts
those shorts marked as Originals will be button, users will be
available exclusively on YouTube greeted with a welcome
• Shorts shot through the YouTube app will screen with details about
be treated as originals and automatically the feature
have the Originals badge
• YouTube will also partner with its top
creators to make their videos exclusively
available on YouTube Shorts as Shorts Original Shorts will be visible
Originals as a different category called
‘Shorts Originals’
• The Original Shorts will also be visible as a
different category ‘Shorts Originals’ like
the other categories the user has selected

Expected Impact
This feature will inspire creators to create
original short content on YouTube and it will
solve the paint point of Mrs. Neelam who Original Shorts will have a
found the content of YouTube shorts copied logo next to them
from other platforms and not unique indicating the same

Feature
Feature #1: Shorts Categories
Feature #2: Watch Rewards
Feature #3: Shorts Originals
North Star Metric
Metrics
KPI
• # of categories/User
• % of users opting for categories only
• Daily Average Visits to the categories
section
• # of ad free minutes earned / user
• # of background play earned/user
• # of new signups
• % of creators using shorts Originals
• No of Originals videos viewed by the user
• % Increase in Average Watch time
Description
• Average No of categories subscribed by
each user
• Percentage of user using Shorts who
have opted to view shorts from
categories only
• Daily visits to the categories section in
the subscription page
• Average No of ad free minutes earned
daily per user
• Average no of daily background play
minutes per user
• Monthly no of new signups
• No of creators/total creators publishing
originals shorts
• Average Number of Original Shorts
watched by per user per day
• Percentage increase in average watch
time per month per user
 Launch Plan & A/B Testing
Feature #1: Shorts Categories Feature #2: Watch Rewards Feature #3: Shorts Originals
For this feature, the use of AI is For the development of feature, a
For the development, proper
essential to automatically improve mechanism of proper tracking of
labelling and detection of original
the feed of the user based on his the user activity on the app is
shorts is required. Time required:
Feature selection. Time required to required. Time required:
2 month
Development develop: 2 months 2 months
Release a teaser of the feature on social media platforms and run digital marketing campaigns. Time
Launch Pre Launch: required: 15 days
Plan Beta Launch Once the feature is developed, release it to selected users or users on the Beta platform of YouTube
Feedback: After a period of 30 days, take a feedback from Beta users and make changes to the features if required
Final
After another 30 days, once the bugs have been ironed put, make official announcements on social media
Announcement
platforms about the new features coming. And 1 week later roll out the final release.
and Release

• A/B testing will be conducted during the beta testing phase

• Release the beta version of the feature to the selected users with the targeted user
A/B personas and beta testers
Testing • Track the metrics mentioned earlier for the people using the feature for each feature
and the north star metric of watch time
• Compare the watch time of beta testers to the normal users
Thank You