It's the question every new creator asks. We answered it with Returbe's index: 83,969 videos published in the last 90 days by English-language channels with 1,000 to 200,000 subscribers, and the subscriber growth of 2,636 of those channels, measured over at least a week.
Short answer: Shorts grow subscribers faster, long videos make the money.
Subscriber growth: Shorts-only vs long-only channels
| Channel type | Channels | Median growth / month | Channels growing 10%+ / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shorts only (80%+ Shorts) | 713 | +4.75% | 38.6% |
| Mix of both | 569 | +1.16% | 11.8% |
| Long videos only (under 20% Shorts) | 1,354 | +0.39% | 11.2% |
Shorts-only channels grew 12 times faster than long-video channels at the median, and more than a third of them added 10% or more subscribers in a month.
There's a catch: a Shorts subscriber is worth less. Many follow from the feed and never watch the long videos. Growth is real, but it doesn't always turn into watch time or revenue.
Views: Shorts vs long videos by channel size
| Channel size | Format | Median views | Outliers (3x+) | Over 100k views | Over 1M views |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1K–10K subs | Long | 1.0k | 13.1% | 4.0% | 0.27% |
| 1K–10K subs | Shorts | 1.7k | 7.9% | 5.0% | 0.54% |
| 10K–50K subs | Long | 6.1k | 14.3% | 7.1% | 0.60% |
| 10K–50K subs | Shorts | 15.2k | 14.9% | 17.4% | 4.93% |
| 50K–200K subs | Long | 18.8k | 12.2% | 17.1% | 0.65% |
| 50K–200K subs | Shorts | 31.0k | 17.5% | 28.4% | 8.31% |
Two surprises:
- Under 10,000 subscribers, Shorts aren't magic. Median views are barely higher than long videos, and long videos break out more often (13.1% vs 7.9%). Very small Shorts channels mostly post into the void until one Short hits.
- From 10,000 subscribers, Shorts take off. About 1 Short in 20 passes a million views for channels of 10K–50K, against 1 long video in 170.
See which Shorts and long videos break out in your niche
Returbe's Top Videos lets you switch between Shorts and long videos, filter by channel size and see what's beating its normal this week.
Money: long videos win easily
Shorts are paid from a shared pool: roughly $0.03 to $0.10 per 1,000 views. Long videos usually pay $1 to $10+ per 1,000 views, depending on the niche (full RPM table).
So a 10K–50K channel's median Short (15,200 views) earns about $0.50 to $1.50. Its median long video (6,100 views) earns about $6 to $60. Even a million-view Short (around $30 to $100) earns less than a long video with 20,000 to 30,000 views in a well-paid niche.
Monetization rules are also changing in 2027 for Shorts: see what's changing in the YouTube Partner Program.
Which one should you choose?
- You want subscribers fast, or you have no long-video idea yet: start with Shorts. Expect it to take dozens of Shorts before one hits; most growth happens after 10,000 subscribers.
- You want revenue, sponsors or a loyal audience: long videos. They break out more often for very small channels and pay 30 to 100 times more per view.
- The best of both: Shorts on the same topic as your long videos, ideally a 20-second highlight of each long video. Shorts bring the subscribers, long videos turn them into watch time and money.
Whatever you pick, the niche matters more than the format: see the best Shorts niches and the highest paying niches. For Shorts, keep them under 30 seconds: here's the data.
Methodology
Returbe's index on October 31, 2026. Views: videos published between 90 and 3 days ago by English-language channels with 1,000 to 200,000 subscribers, excluding livestreams and made-for-kids videos. Growth: channels in that range with subscriber snapshots at least 7 days apart, growth brought back to 30 days; channel type from the share of Shorts in its recent uploads. Revenue ranges are estimates from typical RPMs, not real payouts. These are correlations: channel age and niche also play a part in growth.
FAQ
Do Shorts or long videos grow a channel faster?
Shorts, for subscribers. In our data, Shorts-only channels with 1,000 to 200,000 subscribers grew a median of 4.75% per month, against 1.16% for channels mixing both and 0.39% for long-video channels. 39% of Shorts-only channels grew more than 10% a month.
Do long videos make more money than Shorts?
Yes, by far. Shorts pay roughly $0.03 to $0.10 per 1,000 views, while long videos usually pay $1 to $10 or more depending on the niche. A long video can earn with 10,000 views what a Short earns with a million.
Are Shorts good for a channel under 10,000 subscribers?
They help, but less than people think. For channels with 1,000 to 10,000 subscribers, Shorts had a median of 1,700 views against 1,000 for long videos, and fewer outliers (7.9% vs 13.1%). The big Shorts advantage shows up from 10,000 subscribers.
Should I do both Shorts and long videos?
For most channels, yes: use Shorts to bring in subscribers and long videos to earn and build a loyal audience. Keep both on the same topic so Shorts viewers have a reason to watch your long videos.
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