If you think almost every app has some form of vertical video, add one more unexpected one to the list: Google Play Store. Google has introduced an original video series called “The Play Report” to let people discover new apps, and it will show up in the Play Store as well.
The company said it will start showing these videos on the Play Store home page to select users in the U.S. Other users will be able to watch these videos on Google Play’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
While the company didn’t mention this tidbit explicitly, a GIF posted on its blog post suggests these videos are YouTube Shorts. Apart from the video, users will see a handy install icon for the app that’s being talked about in the video.
Image Credits: Google
Google said each episode will feature experts, creators and even Google employees highlighting different apps.
Importantly, the Play Store already lets developers link YouTube videos as part of their app’s media assets, which appears on the app’s listing page. It’s not clear if Google will expand the short video support on Play Store to other creators or developers beyond this program. The Android maker also didn’t mention if the apps featured are picked by the company or the creators themselves.
Google has already benefited a lot from Shorts. In July, during its Q3 2023 earnings call, the company said more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users are watching Shorts. The Play Store is another surface for Google to utilize the short video format to aid app discovery.