YouTube Shorts is generating 90 billion views daily — a threefold increase from 2022, when the figure stood at 30 billion. The platform has released a guide for working with the format: Julia Lee Harter, editor for culture and entertainment, shared practical tips for brands and creators planning to use Shorts for influencer advertising and promotional campaigns.
How to find trends for influencer advertising in Shorts
YouTube has suggested five ways to track relevant formats and topics. The Remix feature allows you to repurpose audio from popular videos, collaborate with other creators, add green screen effects, or clip a segment from another video as a foundation for your own content. This makes it easier to adapt trends to your brand's needs.
The platform's audio library shows trending tracks through the "Add sound" option — embedding trendy audio increases your chances of appearing in recommendations. Hashtags, despite their declining role in organic reach on other platforms, work on YouTube as navigation for communities: #booktube, #cleanwithme, #learnonshorts lead to pages with curated videos where brands can study formats and approaches used by specific audiences.
Shorts templates replicate the timing, editing transitions, and music from successful videos — a tool ideal for quickly testing formats as part of your media buying strategy. YouTube recommends following the platform's official blog, where new trend data and creator case studies are published.
Interactive stickers for boosting engagement
The platform has identified five types of stickers that increase viewer activity and provide data to refine your content strategy. The poll sticker offers two answer options to a question — results help you understand audience preferences and adjust how you present your product in future videos.
"When you get an interesting question, unexpected opinion, or funny comment — don't respond with standard text. Make that user the hero of your next video," Julia Lee Harter recommends.
The quiz sticker asks a question with two options and immediately reveals the correct answer — this format works well for educational integrations and product promotions emphasizing expertise. The Q&A sticker gives viewers a field for detailed comments, which become a source of ideas for new videos and deepen your connection with the audience.
The "Add yours" sticker launches a chain of response Shorts from viewers — this mechanic increases reach through user-generated content and works great for challenges. YouTube recommends tracking responses and featuring the best ones in your own videos to strengthen community engagement.
How to connect Shorts with a creator's long-form content
Short videos serve as an entry point for new audiences, but monetization and deeper brand integration often require full-length videos. The "Similar videos" feature creates a direct link between Shorts and longer videos on the channel — Harter recommends explicitly pointing to it on screen with a gesture or by showing a preview of the video so viewers know where to click.
The opening seconds of a long video should continue the theme from the Short without lengthy introductions — if the creator promised to show the results of a product test in the short video, the full version should start right at that moment. A gap between what you promise and what you deliver reduces retention and CPM for future integrations.
The platform also suggests experimenting with vertical live streams — a format still rarely used, giving brands willing to test new mechanics a competitive advantage in reach.
What this means for the Russian market and brands
The growth of Shorts to 90 billion daily views confirms the global trend toward short-form video content, which is actively developing in Russia as well. Brands building their influencer advertising strategy on YouTube gain tools for rapid creative testing, targeting niche communities through hashtags, and directly collecting feedback through interactive stickers — data that's difficult to obtain through traditional advertising formats.
Linking Shorts to longer videos through the "Similar videos" feature solves the funnel challenge: a short video captures attention and expands reach, while a full-length creator integration provides a detailed product presentation and drives conversion. Selecting creators based on platform specifics, planning media buying, and forecasting KPIs across both formats require experience with YouTube analytics — the ETC team builds such campaigns with platform mechanics and audience data in mind.
Frequently asked questions
How to use YouTube Shorts to promote a brand
Use Shorts as an entry point for new audiences: test formats through templates, embed trending audio, add interactive stickers to gather feedback, and guide viewers to full videos using the "Similar videos" feature. With 90 billion daily views, Shorts has become an essential element of any YouTube media buying strategy.
Which stickers in Shorts increase engagement
YouTube offers five types of stickers: polls with two answer options, quizzes showing the correct result, Q&A stickers for detailed comments, and the "Add yours" sticker for launching chains of response videos. These tools boost audience activity and provide data to refine your content strategy.
Do hashtags work in YouTube Shorts
Yes, hashtags on YouTube function as navigation for topic-specific communities and lead to pages with curated video collections. Following tags like #booktube or #learnonshorts helps you explore trending formats and approaches within specific niches, which is valuable when planning creator integrations.
In brief
- YouTube Shorts generates 90 billion views daily — a threefold increase over three years.
- The Remix feature, audio library, hashtags, and templates help identify trends and adapt formats to your brand's goals.
- Five types of interactive stickers — polls, quizzes, Q&A, and "Add yours" — boost engagement and gather audience feedback.
- The "Similar videos" feature connects Shorts to longer videos, turning short content into a funnel for full-length integrations.
- The opening seconds of a long video should continue the Shorts theme without lengthy introductions — this preserves retention and advertising effectiveness.
- Vertical live streams are an emerging mechanic with potential for early-adopter brands.
Want to see where the market is heading before your competitors do? The ETC team builds a media strategy and media plan for your niche — with reach forecasts and KPIs fixed in the contract.
