Instagram is giving creators the ability to upload longer horizontal videos on its platform, the company announced on Monday. Testing has been taking place with certain creators in Brazil and will be rolling out to select U.S. creators. The offering will let them upload longform videos that are up to 90 minutes long.
“Instagram is all about connecting people over creativity, and creativity is so much more than just shortform video or just posts and carousels,” Tessa Lyons, vice president of product at Instagram, said in a longform video announcing the news. She outlined that creators have been using Reels to creator shortform series, that they’ve used clips on Reels to drive discovery to other content and that they’re using Instagram Live. “There’s just so much different format now happening around creativity and storytelling on video that we want to make sure we’re doing a good job of serving.”
This development is clearly part of a strategy to make the social media platform more competitive when it comes to longer form content. Back in June, the company announced Instagram for TV, an offering that lets users watch Instagram videos from the living room. The option launched last year for Samsung, Fire TV and Google TV in the U.S. and will launch on Apple TV this month.
It also comes at a time when YouTube has been a dominant player in television for years. For the past three years, YouTube has reigned as the No. 1 most-watched streamer or channel on all of television. The platform hit an all-time high in August, accounting for 15.8% of all TV usage during the month, which was more than twice the share of the next most-watched platform (Netflix). YouTube also ranked as the top company when it came to Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, a report that reflects the most-watched streamers and channels by parent company. In the month of August, YouTube beat The Walt Disney Company.
More to come …
