YouTube has added a new option to help enhance your Shorts, with creators now able to add voiceover to their short-form clips in the app.
As explained by YouTube:
“Add another layer of creative expression to your Shorts by narrating what happens in your content (think: instructions, explanations, reactions, funny comments, or even adding your own new sounds and beyond)”
Which, of course, you’ve been able to do on TikTok and Instagram Reels for some time, so functionally, it’s not a revolutionary addition. But it doesn’t need to be – the option will provide more creative capacity within your Shorts approach, and could help to improve the presentation of your clips, in various ways.
And Shorts, in general, may well be worth considering.
Shorts on YouTube have seen rapid growth, with 1.5 billion people – or 75% of YouTube’s total audience – now engaging with Shorts regularly. Given this, and the broader trend towards shorter video content, all creators and brands should be considering if and how Shorts may fit into their strategy, and whether it could enhance their overall YouTube presence.
Because YouTube certainly looking to push short-form posts. As it works to lean into the short-form video shift, YouTube’s been looking to insert more Shorts into discovery surfaces, and entice more people into its shorter video offering. YouTube’s now also implementing new monetization options for Shorts, in the hopes that this will attract more of the top creators in the space, and make YouTube the key destination for such, helping to maintain its place as the overall online video leader.
Given this focus, Shorts may be a valuable strategic addition. And with more creative tools being added every other week, there’s a range of ways to create Shorts that could help generate more interest in your content.
Voiceover adds another element, and it could be worth experimenting with in your approach.
To add voiceover to your Shorts after recording content:
- Tap the checkmark button in the bottom right of the camera screen
- Tap the voiceover button
- Move the playhead (vertical white line on the video filmstrip) to the spot you want to start your voiceover
- Hit the red record button to start recording and tap it again to stop recording (you can also hold down the record button while recording and lift up to stop recording)
- Tap the undo button if you want to delete your last voiceover recording, or tap the redo button to add it back again
- Use the volume panel to adjust audio levels across music, your original video’s audio, and voiceover
YouTube says that voiceover for Shorts is rolling out from today on iOS. No word on Android just yet.
