YouTube shorts

I'm curious as to how the platform works. I come from a region where the niche I want to go into has no market. In my experience with TikTok the videos are promoted, not based on hashtags you include, but it's first shown to a group in the region you are in and then to other regions if the engagement is good. If it goes viral then looking it up using a relevant hashtag will push it high up the search results page. Does YouTube shorts work the same way?

Both have different algorithim but the basics are same. You need good quality videos in both cases to be able to rank and make money.