YouTube Eyes Expansion Of TikTok Rival Service After Finding Popularity In Beta Phase

Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL GOOG YouTube said its new short-form video player service is proving to be popular.

What Happened: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in a letter on Tuesday that the new Shorts player is receiving 3.5 billion daily views.

“We’re now beta testing YouTube Shorts in India and we’re excited to help the next generation of mobile creators tell their stories by lowering the barriers to entry,” wrote Wojcicki.

The executive revealed that YouTube is looking forward to expanding Shorts to new markets in 2021.

Why It Matters: The shorts beta was launched in September last year as multiple countries including the United States and India announced TikTok bans.

See Also: Facebook Expands 'Instagram Reels' To India After Country Bans TikTok

This month, India permanently banned TikTok along with 58 other apps including some from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA and Tencent Holdings Limited TCEHY, India’s Economic Times newspaper reported.

Price Action: Alphabet Class A shares and Class shares closed 0.72% and 0.94% higher respectively at $1,907.95 and $1,917.24 on Tuesday. The Class A shares rose nearly 0.7% in the after-hours session, while the Class C shares were up almost 0.6%.