Instagram Tests 90-Minute Videos to Rival YouTube Without Ad Revenue Share
Instagram Tests 90-Minute Videos Without Ad Revenue
Instagram is testing video lengths of up to 90 minutes and expanding television playback to Apple TV, positioning the platform to compete directly with YouTube. Unlike its chief rival in long-form video, however, Instagram is not currently offering an ad-revenue sharing program to compensate creators for uploads.
The Tech TL;DR:
- Instagram is testing horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long in the U.S. with a small group of creators, shifting away from its historic emphasis purely on short-form content.
- The platform is rolling out television compatibility to Apple TV alongside existing support for Samsung, Fire TV, and Google TV devices.
- Creators will not receive ad-revenue sharing akin to YouTube’s model, though Instagram is exploring performance-based incentives and direct funding for select creators.
The feature updates are rolling out following announcements shared by Meta executives on the platform. Instagram VP of product Tessa Lyons and head Adam Mosseri detailed the changes in a video published Monday. Lyons noted that the expansion accommodates creators telling episodic stories, while Mosseri acknowledged that he had historically opposed long-form video on the application over concerns about user engagement patterns with friends. According to Mosseri, watching longer videos can reduce the sharing of shorter content and direct messaging among peers.
To support discovery, creators can share up to eight clips from a single long-form feature to the Reels tab. In addition, Instagram Lives will soon reach audiences beyond a creator’s immediate followers via the Reels tab, and a forthcoming mobile feature will allow users’ phones to act as remote controls for television playback.
| Product Feature | Description | Deployment Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Longer Horizontal Video | Testing limits up to 90 minutes for podcasts, vlogs, and interviews. | Expanding from Brazil to a small U.S. test group. |
| Clips as Reels | Linking up to eight short clips to point to a single long-form video. | Expanding from Brazil to a small U.S. test group. |
| Series | Dedicated home for episodic Reels on a creator’s profile. | Testing since spring of 2026 with select creators in U.S., India and Mexico; expanding to more countries through end of 2026. |
| Instagram for TV | Watching Reels, Features, Series, Channels, and a Friends tab to catch up on your friends’ Stories, posts and what they’re watching on HDTVs with phone remote controls. | Launched last year; available now on Samsung, Fire TV, Google TV, and Apple TV in the U.S. (livestream support coming soon). |
| Live Discoverability | Broadcasting livestreams beyond followers into the Reels tab. | Testing in Indonesia and Brazil, launching in more countries soon. |
Instagram is currently providing funding for longer-form content directly to select creators to support them, but a company representative stated that “it’s too early to share a long-term monetization model.” Regarding future monetization, an Instagram spokesperson stated that the company is exploring performance-based incentives and ways for creators to earn from brands, fans, and the platform. Over time, we think there will be compounding benefits for creators to tell new stories, reach new audiences, and find new partners, which should lead to many monetization opportunities,
the spokesperson added.
curl -X GET "https://graph.instagram.com/v21.0/me/media?fields=id,caption,media_type,media_url,duration"
-H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN"