YouTube Is Killing Stories Next Month To Focus On Shorts Videos

YouTube is shutting down another feature very soon that most of you probably didn’t even know existed on the platform. YouTube has confirmed this week that its version of Stories will not be available after June 26 which is exactly one month from now.

Stories as a format has been largely popular on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat (where it all started) and gradually we have seen it move to WhatsApp and even Facebook. But the Google-owned video streaming platform has decided that it is time to kill another product which was introduced as Reels back in 2017.

Stories were largely limited to creators on YouTube who could share a teaser of their upcoming video with their subscribers or share behind-the-scenes posts. These Stories were available for a limited time after which they vanished, similar to Instagram and Snapchat. YouTube’s decision to shut down Stories suggests the feature never really got traction on the platform, which cannot be attributed to lack of demand, as other apps are clearly thriving on the feature and evolving as we speak.

Google has a bad habit of killing products out of the blue and not giving any reason for the cull. The decision from YouTube to end support for Stories feels eerily similar to its parent company’s tactics. Either way, we don’t really think people would really miss Stories going away from YouTube.

So what does YouTube plan to focus on apart from the regular videos? It seems the platform is heavily banking on the success of Shorts which is also its version of Reels and TikTok videos. It has already garnered millions of views and is now looking to monetise the product with advertisers on board. The company already has a separate tab for Shorts on mobile, and desktop. Soon, it could bring Shorts to the YouTube Music which is currently being tested.