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YouTube Shorts analyzer: Shorts vs long videos vs live streams
Paste any channel to see how many Shorts, long videos and live streams it has, how many views each type gets, how often it posts each one and its most viewed Shorts.
Where the views on the last 90 days of uploads went
Most viewed Shorts
| # | Short | Views | Posted | Length |
|---|
This YouTube Shorts analyzer splits any channel into its three kinds of uploads: Shorts, long videos and live streams. Paste a channel link or @handle and it shows how many of each the channel has, the total, average and median views of the latest ones, how often it posts each type, which share of its recent views comes from Shorts, and its most viewed Shorts. It works for any public channel, yours or a competitor's, with no sign-in, and it reads only public data through the official YouTube Data API. Use it to see whether a channel is a Shorts channel, a long-video channel or both, and how its Shorts compare with the rest.
How the Shorts analyzer works
Next to the uploads list that every channel has, YouTube keeps a separate list for each type: one with the channel's Shorts, one with its long videos and one with its live streams, plus a list of its most viewed Shorts. YouTube does not document these lists, but they answer through the official YouTube Data API like any public playlist. The analyzer reads them like this:
- It finds the channel from the link or handle you paste.
- It reads the size of each list, which gives the number of public Shorts, long videos and live streams.
- It reads the latest 50 uploads of each type and their view counts, lengths and dates, and the 10 most viewed Shorts.
- From those it works out views, averages, medians, the number posted in the last 30 and 90 days, the typical gap between uploads and the share of recent views that went to Shorts.
If YouTube does not answer for the per-type lists, the analyzer falls back to the channel's latest 50 uploads and sorts them by length (3 minutes or less is probably a Short) and by live details, and it says so above the results.
Worked example: Veritasium
On 26 October 2026 the analyzer found 91 public Shorts, 452 long videos and no live streams on Veritasium. Its latest 50 Shorts had 241,690,899 views in total, about 4.8 million each on average, and covered about a year of posting. Its latest 50 long videos had 642,072,720 views, about 12.8 million each, and covered about 20 months. So the channel posts Shorts more often, while each long video gets more views. Run it again and the numbers will have moved: they are live.
How to use the Shorts analyzer
Step 1: Paste a channel
Paste a YouTube channel link, an @handle, or a link to any of the channel's videos or Shorts, and press Analyze.
Step 2: Read the counts
The cards show how many public Shorts, long videos and live streams the channel has, and how much of its recent views went to Shorts.
Step 3: Compare the types
The table puts Shorts, long videos and live streams side by side: views, averages, how many were posted in the last 30 and 90 days and the typical gap between uploads.
Step 4: Check the top Shorts
The list shows the channel's most viewed Shorts with views, date and length. Share the link to keep the analysis.
How to see how many Shorts a channel has
YouTube's channel page shows one total for all videos, not one per type. The Shorts tab lists the Shorts but does not count them. Paste the channel above and the first card shows the number of public Shorts, read from YouTube's own Shorts list for the channel. The long videos and live streams get their own counts next to it.
Do Shorts get more views than long videos?
It depends on the channel, which is what the table shows. Keep in mind that the two counts are not measured the same way. Since 31 March 2025 a Shorts view counts every time a Short starts to play or replay, with no minimum watch time, while the older, stricter count lives on as engaged views in the owner's YouTube Analytics. A Short with a million views and a long video with a million views did not hold people for the same time. For the money side, Shorts earn far less per view; see the YouTube Shorts money calculator.
How often does a channel post Shorts?
The table shows how many Shorts, long videos and live streams the channel posted in the last 30 and 90 days, the date of the latest one and the typical gap between uploads (the median number of days between the latest uploads of that type). A channel that posts more than 50 of a type in 90 days shows a + sign, because only the latest 50 are read. For the days and hours a channel posts, use the YouTube upload schedule checker.
How to find a channel's most viewed Shorts
The analyzer lists the 10 most viewed Shorts from YouTube's own most-viewed list for the channel, with views, posting date and length. Each one has a link to watch it in the normal video player, with a seek bar and speed settings, through the Shorts to normal video converter.
What share of a channel's views comes from Shorts?
The analyzer adds up the views of everything the channel posted in the last 90 days, split by type, and shows the share that went to Shorts. The same 90 days are what YouTube uses for the Shorts views rule of the Partner Program. It is a share of the views on recent uploads, not of all the views the channel got in that time: older videos keep getting views, and those are not public per day.
What counts as a YouTube Short?
A Short is a square or vertical video of up to 3 minutes, for uploads from 15 October 2024. Longer vertical videos uploaded before that date stay long videos. YouTube decides this at upload, and the analyzer uses YouTube's own lists rather than guessing from length, so a vertical 2-minute video from 2023 counts as a long video, as it does on YouTube.
Why the counts can differ from the channel's video total
- Members-only videos count in the channel's total but are not in the public lists.
- Very large channels: YouTube's lists stop counting at about 20,000 videos, so a channel with more uploads shows lower counts.
- Private, deleted and scheduled videos are not in the public lists either.
When the totals do not match, the analyzer says by how much.
How accurate is the Shorts analyzer?
- Counts are YouTube's own. They come straight from YouTube's lists for the channel, with the limits above.
- The per-type lists are not documented. They work on every channel we tested, but YouTube could change them; the fallback by length is then less exact, because a short long video can look like a Short.
- Views, averages and pace use the latest 50 of each type, not the channel's whole history.
- Views are public counts, which for Shorts include replays. Engaged views and watch time are only visible to the owner.
- Results are cached for 15 minutes, so a brand-new upload can take that long to appear.
Sources
- Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts, YouTube Help, checked 26 Oct 2026.
- Get started creating YouTube Shorts (how Shorts views are counted from 31 March 2025), YouTube Help, checked 26 Oct 2026.
- YouTube Data API: videos resource (viewCount from 24 August 2026), Google for Developers, checked 26 Oct 2026.
- YouTube Partner Program overview and eligibility, YouTube Help, checked 26 Oct 2026.
Why we built this Shorts analyzer
A channel's page mixes Shorts, long videos and live streams into one video count and one view count, so you cannot tell how a channel really works. Nitin Raja, who builds PlaylistTime, tested a lot of these pages before building this one: after testing out a lot of websites, he found what people need and what they do not, and built around that. People want the three types apart, with counts that come from YouTube rather than a guess from length, and a clear note when something cannot be known. So that is what this page does.
What this analyzer measures
- From YouTube: the number of public Shorts, long videos and live streams from YouTube's per-type lists for the channel; the views, lengths and dates of the latest 50 of each type; and the 10 most viewed Shorts. It uses the official YouTube Data API.
- Worked out here: totals, averages and medians, uploads in the last 30 and 90 days, the typical gap between uploads and the share of recent views that went to Shorts.
- What it does not measure: engaged views, watch time, earnings, traffic sources or views per day. None of that is public.
- Nothing you type is stored. The share link only holds the channel you entered.
Why it is different
| This analyzer | A typical channel stats page | |
|---|---|---|
| Shorts vs long vs live | Counted from YouTube's own per-type lists | One total, or a guess from video length |
| Live streams | A separate column | Mixed in with videos |
| Top Shorts | YouTube's most-viewed Shorts list | Most viewed of recent uploads only |
| Limits | Said plainly, with the fallback named | Often not mentioned |
| Sign-in | None | Often needed |
Built by Nitin Raja. Last updated 26 October 2026.
Questions
How do I see how many Shorts a YouTube channel has?
Paste the channel into the Shorts analyzer. It reads YouTube's own Shorts list for the channel and shows the number of public Shorts, next to the number of long videos and live streams.
Does it work for any channel?
Yes, for any public channel, with no sign-in. It only reads public data through the official YouTube Data API, so members-only, private and deleted videos are not counted.
How does it tell Shorts from long videos?
YouTube keeps separate lists of each channel's Shorts, long videos and live streams, and the analyzer reads those. If they are not available, it falls back to length (3 minutes or less) and says so.
Why do Shorts have so many more views?
Partly because they are counted differently. Since 31 March 2025, a Shorts view counts every time a Short starts to play or replay, with no minimum watch time. The stricter count, engaged views, is only shown to the channel owner.
Why does the total not match the channel's video count?
The channel's total includes videos that are not in the public lists, such as members-only videos, and YouTube's lists stop counting at about 20,000 videos. The analyzer shows the difference.
How often is the data updated?
Every result is read live from YouTube and kept for 15 minutes, so a new upload can take up to 15 minutes to show.
Related creator tools
- YouTube Money Calculator: Estimate what a video or channel earns from its views, as a range by niche, for long videos and Shorts.
- YouTube Monetization Checker: Check a channel against the public part of the YouTube Partner Program rules.
- YouTube Sponsorship Rate Calculator: Average views of the latest long videos, turned into a sponsorship price range by niche and format.
- YouTube Engagement Rate Calculator: Likes and comments per view across recent videos, compared with published benchmarks.
- YouTube CPM and RPM Calculator: Work out earnings, RPM, CPM, ad cost or impressions from any two numbers.
- TikTok Money Calculator: Creator Rewards estimate from qualified views, with the eligibility rules checked.
- YouTube Channel ID Finder: Find the UC channel ID behind any @handle, custom URL or video link.
- YouTube Live Subscriber Count: A channel subscriber count that refreshes on its own.
- Compare YouTube Channels: Put two channels side by side: subscribers, views, uploads and more.
- YouTube Upload Schedule Checker: See which days and hours a channel usually posts.
- YouTube Tag Extractor: Copy the tags a video was uploaded with.
- YouTube Handle Checker: See if an @handle is free, check it against YouTube's rules, and get free variants.
- YouTube Profile Picture Downloader: A channel's profile picture at full size, plus its banner.
- YouTube Watch Hours Calculator: Views you need for 4,000 watch hours, from your view duration or your videos.
- YouTube Video Duration Checker: Exact length of one video or 50, with the total and time at 2x.
- Most Subscribed YouTube Channels: The top 100 channels ranked live by YouTube's own counts.
- YouTube Dislike Checker: What can still be known about a video’s dislikes, and where the numbers come from.
- YouTube Region Restriction Checker: See the countries where a video is blocked or allowed.
- YouTube Comment Picker: Pick random giveaway winners from the comments of one video or up to ten.
- YouTube Live Chat Picker: Collect a live stream’s chat while it runs, filter by a keyword and draw a winner.
- Instagram Comment Picker: Paste a post’s comments and draw a fair random giveaway winner.
- TikTok Comment Picker: Paste a video’s comments and draw a fair random giveaway winner.
- YouTube Shorts Money Calculator: What Shorts pay: an earnings range from a channel's Shorts, one Short or typed views, from Shorts RPM data.
- YouTube Shorts to Normal Video: Turn a Shorts link into the normal video link, with a seek bar, speed and captions.
- YouTube Shorts Checker: Pick a video file and see if YouTube will treat it as a Short: length, size and aspect ratio.
- YouTube Shorts Safe Zone: See which parts of your frame the Shorts buttons, title and top bar cover, and save it as a PNG.
- YouTube Shorts Thumbnail Grabber: Every thumbnail size YouTube has for a Short, with links you can copy.
- How to Block YouTube Shorts: Every working way to hide or turn off Shorts on a computer, Android, iPhone and kids' accounts.
- YouTube Thumbnail Downloader: Every thumbnail size of any video, up to 20 links at once, JPG or WebP.
- YouTube Thumbnail Preview: See your thumbnail and title in feed, search, suggested and phone layouts, light or dark.
- YouTube Thumbnail Size Checker: Check an image against YouTube's thumbnail rules and get a fixed copy under 2 MB.
- YouTube Banner Size and Safe Area: Your banner on the 2560 x 1440 template with what TV, desktop, tablet and phone show.
- YouTube Title Length Checker: Count against the 100-character limit and see where your title gets cut.
- YouTube Bitrate Calculator: YouTube's recommended upload and live bitrates, plus file size and length.
All of them in one place: YouTube creator tools.