YouTube Shorts is rolling out a watermarks feature. The ability will discourage creators to cross-post YouTube Shorts on other platforms without a watermark. This comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that YouTube will soon launch an online store like Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video. YouTube first launched Shorts in 2020.
YouTube announced in a post it shared on the support thread, “We have added a watermark to the Shorts you download so your viewers can see that the content you are sharing across platforms can be found on YouTube Shorts.”
The feature is similar to TikTok’s red and blue watermark on any video downloaded from the app. The new YouTube feature will roll out on desktop in the coming weeks and will then expand to the mobile app in the coming months. The other short-video competitor, Instagram Reels, lets users download a draft Reel without watermarks.