• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 4, 2023

BENlabs, an entertainment company using artificial intelligence (AI) to build tools for content creators, wanted to increase audience engagement through short-form videos for the more than 13 million YouTube creators it works with.

TubeBuddy, a part of BENlabs, has launched a newly created tool called Suggested Shorts. It identifies the short-form videos of a creator’s most engaging moments from long-form videos in their library.

The AI-based insights stem from audiences, engagement, and retention to ensure that the newly created short-form videos are ones that will drive the most views and engagement. In turn, it increases a creator’s ability to monetize their videos.  

BENlabs CEO Ricky Ray Butler says data showed that the way creators grew and discovered new audiences was through short-form video, whether on TikTok, Reels, or YouTube Shorts.

“Our mission and vision is to empower creators and brands, helping them create content that can grow their audiences and revenue,’ he says. “There was a natural organic opportunity for us to provide tools in this space.”

Butler says the next version of this tool will leverage more data and AI technology to predict viewership and engagement for shorts.

BENlabs developers initially began testing the concepts for the tool in October 2022, after learning that YouTube would monetize Shorts.

Development began in November. The company’s data scientists created multiple concepts based on the ability to detect content that would make an interesting short.

After refining the algorithm focused on creator audience behavior, the company began a beta program to gain an understanding of how creators used the feature.

“Many creators participating in the beta expressed the value of being able to see what moments in their videos were most engaged to their audiences,” Butler says.

The technology identified overall patterns of audience engagement that gave creators insight into how to focus long and short-form efforts.

After a month of testing and beta feedback, BENlabs released the feature on March 29.

When asked to cite the average percentage of revenue increase creators see, Butler said it depends on each creator’s unique content and audiences. Revenue is distributed to monetize creators based on their share of total views from monetizing YouTube Shorts in each country.