Why Instagram Is Introducing Long Videos

What set Instagram and TikTok apart from other social media platforms was to a large extent the nature of their video formats. Set in a vertical layout that filled your entire screen, their videos were meant to be short and addictive, the perfect recipe for our shrinking attention spans.

But in what appears to be a big new experiment, Instagram is now trying out long-form content – videos that will need to be watched horizontally and which could be as long as 90 minutes. Making this announcement in a video (horizontal format, nearly seven minutes long), Instagram’s VP of product Tessa Lyons said, “Instagram is all about connecting people over creativity. And creativity is so much more than just short-form video or posting carousels.” Called Features, this format, she revealed, is already being tested in Brazil and will now be expanded to tens of thousands of creators in the US.

One reason for this move is obvious. Instagram wants to capture a larger chunk of the content landscape. It wants to compete with YouTube and get the kind of long-form content that currently mostly exists only there like podcasts, standup acts and other such pieces to its own platform. It’s not the only one trying to do this. Lately, streaming giants like Netflix and Disney have also been adding podcasts and videos from creators to their platforms.

But Instagram really wants to do a lot more. The platform launched its Instagram for TV last year with Samsung, Fire TV and Google TV, and is now expanding the service to Apple TV in the US. It ultimately wants you to watch long-form content using this service on TV. It also imagines that watching TV could be made into a more social activity, where your connections on Instagram could know what you’ve been watching and perhaps follow suit. The company is also said to be exploring turning the smartphone app into a TV remote. Apart from these, Lyons also announced that the platform will be rebooting Instagram Live and experimenting with a feature called Series that will give episodic Reels a dedicated space on a creator’s profile.

These moves represent a fundamental reimagining of what Instagram stands for. If successful, it could turn the platform from a social media app you mindlessly scroll through in your free time into a comprehensive, multi-device entertainment ecosystem.