Instagram launches longform video to compete with YouTube

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 26 Oct, 17:57 · Archive

Instagram is testing a new horizontal video format called Features that supports videos up to 90 minutes long.

Instagram is testing longform horizontal video in a new format called Features, supporting videos up to 90 minutes long. The feature is currently in small-scale testing in the US and Brazil, with only select creators who have struck individual deals with Meta able to create this content. Instagram is targeting comedians and podcasters.

The horizontal videos will be viewable in the Instagram app and on Instagram's TV apps, which now support Apple TV alongside existing Samsung and Google TV options. Instagram also introduced a Fire TV version last year. The company is testing additional video-focused features including clips pointing to longer videos, a 'series' feature allowing creators to link multiple shortform videos together, and improvements for live video discovery.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri acknowledged his previous concerns that longform video could cannibalize engagement with the shortform Reels content that currently dominates the platform. He said he hoped the two formats would prove 'symbiotic', with viewers watching clips from podcasts or comedy specials as Reels and then watching full episodes on TV.

How it is being reported

• Instagram wants you to watch 90-minute videos on your TVInstagram is experimenting with longform video again.Engadget · 26 Oct, 17:36
• Instagram chases YouTube with a push for longer, widescreen videosInstagram is announcing a big push into longform horizontal video, which the platform is calling "Features." Instagram boss Adam Mosseri has been against doing longform video on the platform "for a long time," he says in a six-and-a-half-minute video (here's the widescreen version) with VP of product Tessa Lyons, saying that "one of my concerns […]The Verge · 26 Oct, 16:05

In this story: Instagram · Meta · Adam Mosseri · YouTube

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