diff --git a/projects/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/youtube.php b/projects/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/youtube.php
index e054e77188c4b..782e9c73645b7 100644
--- a/projects/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/youtube.php
+++ b/projects/plugins/jetpack/modules/shortcodes/youtube.php
@@ -570,7 +570,7 @@ function wpcom_youtube_oembed_fetch_url( $provider, $url ) {
 		return $provider;
 	}
 
-	$query_vars = null;
+	$query_vars = array();
 	wp_parse_str( $parsed['query'], $query_vars );
 	if ( isset( $query_vars['v'] ) && wp_endswith( $query_vars['v'], '?' ) ) {
 		$url = str_replace( $query_vars['v'], $query_vars['v'], $url );