YouTube is giving creators a new way to turn short videos into ongoing shows with the introduction of “Shorts series.”
The feature was announced during the company’s Made On YouTube event as the platform responds to the growing popularity of short-form episodic storytelling and microdramas.
Instead of treating every Short as a separate piece of content, creators will be able to connect multiple videos and organize them into a structured series.
With Shorts series, creators can arrange their videos into seasons and individual episodes, giving viewers a viewing experience that feels more like watching a traditional television show.
The feature is designed for storytelling that continues from one video to the next. Rather than scrolling through unrelated Shorts, viewers can follow a sequence of episodes and continue watching a story in order.
Each series will be available through the creator’s YouTube channel, making it easier for viewers to find and return to ongoing shows.
Creators will also be able to use custom thumbnails and a dedicated playback experience to give their series a more organized presentation.
The feature is rolling out to creators who are part of the YouTube Partner Program and will be available across the web, mobile devices and connected TVs.
YouTube’s decision comes as microdramas continue to gain attention across the digital entertainment industry.
Creators have increasingly started experimenting with vertical scripted shows, moving beyond the traditional model of standalone YouTube videos and exploring episodic storytelling as a potential business.
Internet personality Hannah Stocking, for example, has entered the vertical drama space as a star of the musical microdrama “Playback,” which premiered on Holywater’s My Drama platform.
Longtime YouTube creator Joshua Ovenshire, also known as The Jovenshire, has taken a different route. After years of creating traditional YouTube content, he has moved into producing shows for vertical entertainment platform ReelShort.
His work includes “Secrets and Soulmates,” a series inspired by the format of “Love Island.”
The growing interest in microdramas has also attracted established names from Hollywood, with figures such as James Franco, Issa Rae and Jesse Tyler Ferguson becoming involved in the emerging format.
The rise of these shows has created a competitive market around vertical storytelling, with several dedicated apps now fighting for viewers.
TikTok recently launched PineDrama, its own microdrama-focused app, while platforms such as ReelShort and DramaBox have continued building audiences around short, serialized stories.
For YouTube, Shorts series could help keep more of this viewing activity inside its own platform.
Rather than requiring viewers to leave YouTube to watch episodic vertical dramas elsewhere, the company can now give creators tools to build similar experiences directly within Shorts.
The feature also builds on YouTube’s earlier efforts to make creator content easier to watch in a more traditional television format.
The company says Shorts series is an extension of “Creator Shows,” a feature announced during its annual upfront event last year.
Creator Shows gave selected creators tools to organize their existing content into seasons and episodes, creating a more structured viewing experience designed specifically for television screens.
Creators such as Michelle Khare and Rhett & Link used those tools to arrange their content into episodes and seasons, allowing viewers to watch multiple installments more easily on the big screen.
Shorts series brings a similar structure to short-form vertical content, potentially giving creators another way to turn a collection of Shorts into a larger entertainment property.
The new feature is arriving alongside several other creator-focused announcements from YouTube.
The platform is also introducing Live Showdowns, which allow creators to team up for interactive challenges involving their audiences.
YouTube is expanding its video A/B testing tools as well, giving creators more ways to compare different versions of videos, including alternative cuts and opening hooks.
Dynamic Thumbnails will also allow creators to provide up to three thumbnail options, with YouTube helping determine which version is likely to generate stronger engagement among different audiences.
The company is also introducing additional shopping tools and other features aimed at helping creators grow their channels and generate more revenue.
With Shorts series, YouTube is effectively adding another layer of structure to its short-form video platform. If episodic vertical storytelling continues to grow, the feature could give creators a way to build stories that keep audiences coming back from one episode to the next, without leaving YouTube.
