YouTube Shuts Down its Stories from Late June to Increase Focus on Other Key Areas
Syed Imran Haider 
The Google-owned video streaming site will shut down YouTube Stories on 26th June 2023. YouTube announced the closure of one of its segments late next month as it will now focus on other areas, especially live videos, Community Posts, and Shorts. The company will notify the creators about the upcoming shutdown via numerous channels, including in-app messages, forum posts, and reminders.
Following the footstep of YouTube, almost every social media app copied the idea of Stories, though TikTok’s rise has caused YouTube Stories to lose traction. Social media services have begun incorporating TikTok’s popular short-form video format rather than using YouTube Stories format.
The shutdown of YouTube Stories
Unsurprisingly, YouTube is not the first one to abandon Stories as other tech companies also wind up with similar features in the past. In 2021, LinkedIn ended its Stories segment. Likewise, Spotify unveiled the Stories-like feature for artists’ profiles, but later it prioritized discovery feeds similar to TikTok as its primary focus during the larger redesigning of the app.
Netflix launched Extras, a Stories-like segment on its mobile-based app to share photos and videos of popular shows. The streamer then embraced vertical videos and launched Fast Laugh, a short-form comedy video feed alongside a relevant feature for Kids.
The Background of YouTube Stories
YouTube officially launched its Stories feature, aiming at creators with over 10,000 subscribers in 2018. It never increased the access to everyone using YouTube to let personal and casual sharing do well. The video-streaming platform suggested created to employ Stories to attract their audience through more polished content and produce visuals regarding things like vlogs, quick updates, and a glimpse into upcoming videos.
Stories on YouTube would appear after seven days as Snapchat and Instagram Stories. The company did not introduce any way for creators to save Stories on their profiles like Instagram users can do with their Story Highlights. However, limited creators adapted the new feature, given the other flourishing engagement tools, such as Community Posts, where creators can promote content, chat with fans, or share updates.
The recent announcement by YouTube will make the chapter of Stories over -at least on its platform. It is yet to see how creators respond to the new update, though it was not as successful a segment on YouTube as others like Community Posts or Shorts.
YouTube Stories Did Not Work
In today’s announcement, YouTube admitted that Stories did not work for creators using the said segment and Community posts and drove more likes and comments than Stories. YouTube had to drop over 500 subscribers’ requirements as a significant number of creators obtained access to Community posts in the recent time.
Moreover, YouTube also prioritized the short-form video format instead of the platform’s Shorts. The company says the abovementioned format sees more success than Stories, as creators using both noted several times more subscribers on YouTube Shorts than YouTube Stories. According to a YouTube representative, the growing Shorts adoption benefited creators. Since Stories will no longer be available on the platform, YouTube can prioritize other primary areas aiming to contribute to success for creators on the video streaming platform.
The company will keep investing for creators to grow and engage their audiences through numerous formats. It will notify the creators about the shutdown of Stories in YouTube Studio and remind them about the modification in the forthcoming Creator Insider video segment, where it publishes updates.
YouTube creators also get a direct notification in Stories if they access it before 26th June 2023. They will not be able to create new content for Stories, though the live Stories will continue to be for seven days from the day the creator shared it.
