While using YouTube, you may come across a video title containing “ft.”, what does this mean and why is it used so often? In this article, that’s exactly what we’re going to cover.
First though, what does ft. actually mean?
“Ft.” is an abbreviation for “featuring”. This is most common on music channels because artists often feature other artists in their music videos and songs.
When someone includes ft. in the title, this means the person being featured is also in the video or song. But on YouTube, music is not the only place where ft. is used.
What does ft. mean on YouTube?
On YouTube, “ft.” is a short form meaning “featuring”. While this is most commonly found in music videos, it is not limited to music. YouTubers that collaborate with others also often include “ft.” in the title along with the creator they’re featuring.
As titles need to be as short as possible, it’s much easier to use “ft.” rather than “featuring” to keep the titles readable and have the featured creator’s name still visible.
Examples of ft. used on YouTube
In the video below “Camila Cabello – Bam Bam (Official Music Video) ft. Ed Sheeran”
This song is titled “Bam Bam”. The main artist is Camila Cabello, and at the end of the title, you can see “ft. Ed Sheeran”, meaning that Ed Sheeran has contributed to this song and is featured here.
In some cases, there may be multiple artists featured on a song, like this one by David Guetta:
As you can see, here there are 3 artists featured:
- Nicki Minaj
- Bebe Rexha
- Afrojack
As I mentioned earlier though, “ft.” is not limited to music videos. YouTubers also use it when they collaborate with other creators.
For example, here is “The Anime Man” featuring “PewDiePie” on his channel:
Another example is this from Cody Ko and Noel Millers’ podcast (TMG Podcast):
Here Ludwig is being featured on their channel. Often when creators are featured on other YouTubers’ channels, they also include the person being featured in the thumbnail to help the featured person’s fans click through.
Why do artists feature each other?
Artists often feature each other for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is to help promote each other and grow their fanbases.
When two popular artists release a song together, their fans are more likely to listen to it as they’re already fans of both artists. This also helps the artists get new fans as people who like one artist are more likely to check out the other if they’re featured on a song or video.
If a musician can grow their audience, that means they can earn more money and they can progress in their music career.
On a platform like YouTube that follows a recommendation algorithm, featuring other artists also helps improve the engagement of music videos, which can help the video get seen by more people and gain even more views.
Another reason artists feature each other is simply that they’re friends and enjoy working together. This is especially common with YouTubers who often collaborate with their friends.
How to find creators to collaborate with
If you’re looking for creators to collaborate with, a good place to start is by searching for channels that are a similar size to yours and have a similar audience.
You can also look for channels that have done collaborations before as they’re more likely to do them again in the future.
Ideally, you would want to have some things in common, that way, if you do collaborate, your and your collaborating partner’s viewers will be more inclined to watch each other’s content.
There is no point in collaborating if the other YouTubers’ audience is not going to have any interest in your content.
Message YouTubers you are interested in collaborating with, even if they may be larger than you, pitch them your collab idea and they may say yes.
Final thoughts
“Ft.” is a common abbreviation for “featuring”. Using “ft.” in a YouTube title is a way of indicating that someone else contributed to the video or song, and is often used as a promotion tool to help both artists involved grow their fanbases.
I hope this article has helped you understand what “ft.” means on YouTube and how it’s used.
