Instagram is adding a horizontal long-video format up to 90 minutes, and the open questions are discovery, viewing habits and money.
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Big Idea
The argument in one line.
Instagram is building a dedicated long-form video experience to compete with YouTube, but without ad revenue sharing there is little reason yet to move away from YouTube.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
A creator who already publishes podcasts, tutorials or vlogs on YouTube and wonders whether the same videos belong on Instagram.
A creator who clips long videos into Reels and wants to keep viewers on one platform instead of sending them to YouTube.
A creator selling courses, products or services who uses video to build trust with new audiences.
SKIP IF…
You only make short vertical videos and have no long-form content to repurpose.
You want a how-to for uploading, since the feature is still in a limited beta.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
On October 26 Instagram announced Features, a horizontal video format for uploads up to 90 minutes, a reversal of its earlier stance against long-form content. A companion test lets creators link up to eight Reels to one long video, so short clips can drive viewers to the full piece without leaving the app. Videos may also appear on Explore and Instagram's TV app. Access is limited to tens of thousands of US creators and some in Brazil. The host sees open risks: viewers trained to swipe, and no announced ad revenue share. His advice is to keep YouTube as the base and experiment on Instagram if you have access.
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Instagram's Features format allows horizontal videos up to 90 minutes, a sharp turn from its earlier position that it would not pursue long-form content.
Instagram's test lets creators connect up to eight Reels to one long video, turning clips into a funnel that stays on the same platform.
Short-form is good for getting discovered, but 30 seconds is too short to build a real relationship with a viewer.
Much of YouTube viewing has moved to the TV, which is a big reason Instagram wants long-form content and expanded its TV app to Apple TV.
Instagram has trained viewers for years to swipe through videos, so getting people to sit through a long video is harder than allowing the upload.
Without an ad revenue share for long videos, creators earning thousands a month on YouTube have little reason to prioritize Instagram.
Brand sponsorships and digital product sales are the ways to earn from long-form on Instagram until ad revenue sharing exists.
Platforms may start offering exclusive deals to the biggest creators to draw viewers to one platform over another.
The same long video can live on two platforms, so posting it to Instagram costs little once it is filmed and edited.
Takeaway
Test Instagram long-form, keep YouTube
WHAT TO LEARN
Long-form on Instagram is a cheap experiment worth running, but only YouTube pays today, so treat Instagram as a discovery and trust channel.
Linking up to eight short clips to one long video lets short-form discovery lead into deeper content without sending viewers to another platform.
Long-form builds relationships that 30-second clips cannot, because it has room for teaching, story, context and personality.
Viewing has shifted to TVs, so platforms are chasing long-form content that fits the couch rather than the phone.
Watch for two risks before investing heavily: viewers trained to swipe, and no announced ad revenue share for long videos.
Reposting a finished long video to a second platform costs little, and it can introduce you to future customers even without direct payouts.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Features
Instagram's new horizontal video format for long content, with uploads up to 90 minutes, as opposed to vertical Reels.
IGTV
Instagram's earlier long-video product, launched in 2018 and later phased out.
Linked Reels
A test that lets a creator attach up to eight Reels to one long video so short clips lead viewers to the full piece.
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Instagram just had a massive update. For the first time in a long time, Instagram is making a push into long form content that will allow creators to upload videos up to 90 minutes long. Just two years ago, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said that Instagram wasn't going to pursue long form content.
A creator asked me recently, are we going to do long form video on Instagram? And the answer is no. Apparently things have changed a little bit because Instagram just announced a brand a new feature that could be a direct competitor with YouTube.
And I think there could be some pretty big opportunities here for creators. So I'm gonna break everything down that Instagram just announced, how the new features work, when you can start using them, and whether or not you should start uploading your YouTube videos to Instagram. On October 26th, Instagram announced a new video format called features.
And unlike vertical reels, features are designed for longer horizontal videos. This could be podcast, interviews, vlogs, tutorials, comedy specials, really any type of long form content.
Now, Instagram has played around with longer form content in the past. They released IGTV in 2018, but eventually phased that out. But I think this time it's gonna be a lot different.
Instead of Instagram allowing you to upload a 90 minute reel, they're building an entire experience dedicated to long form content. And they're adding a big change on how people will discover this long form content.
And I think this part is really cool for creators. Let's say you film an hour long podcast. Normally you might take that longer podcast and then try to find good individual moments inside of it.
clip those up and then distribute them onto Instagram. And if somebody wants to watch the whole podcast, they would have to leave Instagram and then go onto YouTube to watch it there. But with this new update, all of that could happen on Instagram.
Instagram's testing a feature that allows creators to connect up to eight short form pieces of content to one long form video. So imagine you have that hour long podcast, you could find eight moments inside of that podcast and then connect those reels back to that one long form video. Now you could get discovered through short form content and have somebody watch your long form content all on the same platform.
Pretty cool. Short form content is a great way to get discovered, but naturally it's really hard to develop a relationship with somebody if you only have 30 seconds. With long form content, it's a lot easier to teach, tell a story, give context, show off your personality a little bit more, and give somebody a reason to come back to the content.
That's really tough to do with short form. On top of that, Instagram is also planning on showing these videos on the explore page.
and their television app, which really brings us to why Instagram is making this change in the first place. In the past, Instagram has been pretty clear that they don't wanna get into long form content. Back in 2024, Adam explained that Instagram's main purpose was to connect people with their friends.
And he believed that long form content would get in the way of that. His argument was that if somebody is watching a 20 minute long video, they'd be spending less time interacting with their friends. And on top of that, they might be less likely to share that video with someone else.
But fast forward to today, Instagram seems to have completely changed its mind. And I think there's a couple of reasons for that. First, YouTube has become an enormous platform.
People are not strictly watching YouTube videos on their phone. In fact, a lot of consumption comes from people watching YouTube videos on their TV. Personally, most of the YouTube content I watch is on a TV.
People are watching podcasts, documentaries, interviews, mini series. All of that content is going on to YouTube and then people are sitting on their couch. and then watching these videos.
And Instagram clearly wants a slice of that pie. In fact, Instagram has been expanding its own TV app, bringing content to platforms like Fire TV, Samsung, Google TV, and now Apple TV. You can tell that Instagram wants to become the platform where people can watch short form content and long form content.
Personally, I think from a platform perspective, having more dedicated long form viewers is probably a little bit better for the platform. long -form content is a better business model for platforms in the long term. All right, so when can you use all the stuff that I've talked about?
First, this is not available to everyone yet. Instagram is testing features with a limited group of creators. The company is expanding the beta to tens of thousands of creators in the United States, and testing has also been taking place in Brazil.
But there's no confirmed date yet on when every creator will be able to use this. So if you open Instagram right now and you don't see the option to upload, in a 90 minute video, that's probably why.
Instagram says that it plans to expand access over time, but it's still pretty early. The other big question that I have is how will these videos perform? It's easy to allow creators to upload longer videos, but I think it's way more difficult to get somebody to actually watch a long video.
For years, Instagram has been training its viewers to just rip through videos on their feed. By introducing long videos, I feel like people are just going to like see a long video, know that they're on Instagram and just swipe through immediately. It'll be interesting to see if people actually sit on Instagram for a long time to watch long videos.
But on top of that, the bigger problem that I see. is how are these creators gonna get monetized? Right now, YouTube definitely has a massive advantage over Instagram with monetization.
On YouTube, creators who are monetized can earn money directly from advertisements running on their long form videos. And for some creators, that can be a pretty good source of income. But Instagram hasn't announced any ad revenue sharing program for longer videos, which I think is a major challenge because if you're a creator, who already uploads long form content to YouTube, if those videos are generating thousands of dollars every month in advertising revenue, and they're not really generating any money on Instagram, there's not a real incentive to prioritize posting on Instagram.
Now, there are other ways to make money. Of course, you can do brand sponsorships, you could sell your own digital products, and Instagram could be a really great place to do that. But I think if Instagram wants to compete with YouTube, they definitely have to have a pretty strong mom.
So here's what I think you should do if you're already creating long form content. First, I definitely would not abandon YouTube. YouTube has already established an audience that wants long form content.
Every time I go onto YouTube, I know that I'm probably gonna watch like a 20 minute long video. And that is definitely not going away just because Instagram announced this new feature. But I would absolutely start experimenting with Instagram if you have access to this.
Mainly because if you spend all of this time filming and editing a piece of content, you might as well have it live on two places. You could create several reels from it on Instagram and then link those reels back to the long form piece of content.
And for creators who sell... digital products, courses, or services, I think this could actually be a really valuable system because even if Instagram isn't directly paying you for the views, those longer videos could help new people get to know you who could eventually become customers. Of course, we'll need to see how Instagram recommends these videos to see how big the opportunity really is.
Also, I wonder about exclusive deals if the platforms are gonna reach out to really big creators and offer them these crazy exclusive deals where they can only post content on one platform versus the other, just to give viewers a reason to go to one versus the other. For example, maybe Mr.
Beast will only be on YouTube. I don't know. So overall, I think this is definitely one of the more interesting updates that Instagram has made.
And if Instagram can figure out how to help new creators get discovered, how to keep people watching on the platform, and if they have a pretty strong monetization model for long form content, I think this could be a pretty legit competitor to YouTube. Of course, no matter what platform you end up posting on, creating great content is still the most important part.
And if you wanna learn how to shoot and edit better videos for Instagram and YouTube, check out our content creation bundle linked in the description below. I'm curious what you guys think. Would you actually watch a 20 or 30 minute long video on Instagram?
Or would you rather just watch that on YouTube? Let me know in the comments below. And if you found this video helpful, make sure to hit subscribe and I'll see you in the next one.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Two years after Instagram's head said no to long-form video, the platform is letting creators upload 90 minutes. The host walks through what changed, why, and what to do about it.
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