Instagram tests 90-minute horizontal videos for US creators
Instagram started a test on Monday that lets select creators in the US post horizontal videos of up to 90 minutes. The product is called Features. It is aimed at podcasters, comedians and other longform creators.
Features works together with Reels, which are typically around three minutes or less. A creator can link a Reel to the full video. Tessa Lyons, vice president of product at Instagram, described it this way: "you see a clip of a podcast that you love, you can just click and continue watching or watch the full video."
Who is in the test
Instagram has already tried the feature with creators in Brazil. It plans to expand to tens of thousands of creators in the US. The videos will also be recommended on the Explore page and in other places in the app.
Early participants include podcast host and Skims co-founder Emma Grede, beauty and fashion creator Monet McMichael, Preston Rakovsky, who interviews New Yorkers about love and relationships, and football content creator Donald De La Haye.
Deals and exclusivity
Lyons said Instagram is working on "a few different deals" with the early creators. There is no exclusivity, unlike Netflix's podcast deals. Existing ad deals carry over into the videos. Instagram also plans to help creators without existing placements find them.
One challenge for Instagram is YouTube's revenue sharing, which offers qualified creators 55 percent of ad revenue.
Features will be available on mobile. The goal is to carry the viewing experience to Instagram for TV, which launched last year with Samsung, Fire TV and Google TV and is now expanding to Apple TV in the US. Lyons said the best viewing experience for longform horizontal content is on a big, horizontal screen, and she expects much of the deep consumption to happen there over time.
Series and live video
Instagram is also experimenting with Series, a home for episodic Reels on a creator's profile. In June it began reaching out to microdrama studios in Southeast Asia. Individual creators have since started trying their own episodic content. Testing is planned in more countries in the coming months, with a US launch by the end of this year or early next year.
Instagram is also testing live video inside the Reels tab, shown to people who do not follow the creator. That is launching in Indonesia and Brazil, with a US expansion planned for next year.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter