Zombies, the Apocalypse, and Catnip’s Dark Secrets: 12 Sundance Shorts Hit YouTube

It’s easier to succeed when a large platform trying to take over a much smaller competitor by replicating the latter’s popular functionality. Content creators who worked hard to build up their subscriber count and influence on the YouTube platform during the pre-TikTok era, will now no longer have to start from scratch by doing the same for TikTok-instead, they can just monetise via YouTube. While it’s nice for film fans who won’t be able to make it to the festival, it’s also something that Sundance has been doing for the past two years. I’m all for filmmakers exploring new avenues of digital distribution, but it’s a shame that Sundance is simply repeating what it’s done for the past few years. This has ultimately given rise to this version of influencer marketing prevalent for the past few years. On the flip side, Shorts falls under Google's marketing stack and thus would mean that marketers do not necessarily have to adapt their materials too much. This artic le was creat​ed by G SA Content  Generato r DE MO​.

The YouTube brand draws a much more mass audience, with a creator base of all ages. A bigger issue is brand safety. Brand safety: As mentioned afore, TikTok’s userbase is still predominately young. ROKEN NIGHT (dir. Guillermo Arriaga): A young woman and her four-year-old daughter drive across desolated hills. THE APOCALYPSE (dir. Andrew Zuchero): Four uninspired friends try to come up with a terrific idea for how to spend their Saturday afternoon. WHEN THE ZOMBIES COME (dir. At a remote hardware store, fans of the walking dead have turned their love of zombies into an obsession, warping the way they see the store and its customers. It will also be interesting to see how creators balance content between platforms. I can foresee TikTok and Shorts coexisting in (somewhat) harmony as the same person will use the two platforms in different ways to create different types of content. Campaign: We know brands prefer working with fewer, trusted platforms.

One of the reasons brands opt for YouTube as a platform first is because they know YouTube has a wide and diverse audience, which also most likely contains their target audience demographic. Shorts is basically a new format, it is not like setting up a presence on a brand-new platform. YouTube Shorts is integrated into the YouTube platform, accessible on the main homepage and soon, via a separate tab on mobile. I foresee brands will have an easier time to uptake YouTube Shorts as part of their channel repertoire. While the global launch will offer all users the ability to create short video, the YouTube Shorts player has been available for viewing worldwide since September. Back in 2010, Sundance and YouTube also experimented with offering full films from the festival for rent - with disappointing results. Want a taste of the Sundance Film Festival without the cold, crowds, and travel? As the LA Times notes, any short that appears online, on TV, or on video before winning a festival prize, or opening in a paid screening at an L.A. By offering their shorts online, directors are also giving up any hope for Oscar consideration as well.

For short film directors, the benefits of opening their work up to a larger online audience likely outweighs awards consideration. Sundance is offering a selection of 12 short films on YouTube via its Screen Room channel. For older generations the comfort level with YouTube is definitely higher. Shorts will look to replicate a level of this but TikTok is still the king in this regard. While Gen Z have been embracing TikTok with a lot of enthusiasm, YouTube content is still a go-to platform for them. The former still for high-energy whimsical pieces, and latter to be defined by Shorts. There’s also a better chance you’ll actually be able to view these shorts on your TV this year, with YouTube-capable TVs and devices more readily available. YouTube is therefore in a position where it needs to innovate, and rolling out Shorts to attract users will be welcomed by advertisers-especially with the scale of the roll-out across many markets.

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