YouTube announced on Wednesday that its Shorts video service, which competes with global blockbuster TikTok, attracts more than 1.5 billion monthly users.

After TikTok, which boasted a billion members late last year, became the vogue, Alphabet's YouTube and Facebook's Meta both added short-form video sharing styles to their sites.

YouTube Shorts debuted less than two years ago, adding 60-second videos to the mix of content available on the platform.

"Shorts has really taken off, with over 1.5 billion logged-in people watching them every month," said YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan.

Last year, YouTube announced a $100 million (approximately Rs. 780 crore) fund to "reward creators" whose online video clips attract viewers.

YouTube has used the tech giant's advertising skills to help creators monetize their material, which brought in billions of dollars in 2021.

In a "multi-platform strategy," Tara Walpert Levy, vice president of the Americas, said that creators are using podcasting, shorts, and live streaming on YouTube.

"This approach is working; networks publishing short and long-form material experience better watch time and subscription increase," Levy said.

TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, began allowing users to upload significantly longer movies earlier this year, increasing the maximum length from 3 minutes to 10 minutes.

With money-generating features like subscriptions and shares in ad revenue, YouTube, Meta, and TikTok compete to be the platform of choice for popular online personalities.