"Gaming publishers must maintain a presence on Shorts, which is becoming the world’s leading short-form content destination"

“Shorts currently has 200 billion daily views and two billion users, and the numbers are constantly growing. In the United States and worldwide, we see that more than 40% of Shorts users are not on TikTok or Reels. It spans age groups, and a diverse audience comes to Shorts for content,” said Eldad Weinberger, Creative Lead at Google Israel, speaking at the Calcalist Gaming Conference held in collaboration with Playtika and Google.

Large gaming companies already recognize this and are advertising heavily on the platform. Weinberger cited the example of Minecraft, which marked its 15th anniversary with a dedicated Shorts campaign featuring a special filter that places users inside the Minecraft world and captures 360-degree images. His central message: trends on Shorts form at remarkable speed, and gaming advertisers must learn to spot them early and incorporate them into their creative strategies.

Eldad Weinberger.

Examples presented on stage included:

• Integrating celebrities and content creators
• Demonstrating steps and tricks in a game
• Trendy edits that tap into successful formats (such as unboxing)
• Game highlights that turn brief clips into ads
• Showcasing in-game achievements
• Using catchy music, as sound plays a critical role in Shorts
• ASMR elements such as subtle whispers, clicks, and taps

“All of these formats capture audiences, and it’s crucial to understand platform trends and build awareness around them, something GenAI now makes much easier to create,” he said. “Bottom line: gaming publishers must live and maintain a presence on the Shorts platform, which is becoming the world’s leading short-form content destination.”