YouTube Shorts have amassed over 5 trillion views in less than 2 years

YouTube Shorts was launched a year and a half ago, but creators using the TikTok-style feature have already amassed over five trillion views across several platforms, owing to the rising popularity of short-form videos.

Susan Wojcicki, YouTube's CEO, released this information in a blog post, but she also unveiled new ways to help creators make money, in addition to the $100 million fund announced last summer.

YouTube will help creators make sponsored content through a program called BrandConnect. YouTube is also looking to incorporate shopping features into Shorts, banking on its existing program that allows viewers to browse, and shop featured products that appear alongside videos.

Additionally, the service will expand its remix feature that allows you to create Shorts using audio from YouTube videos, assuming it's available for anyone to copy. Their plans for the future include using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for monetization options for creators.