10-minute-long TikTok videos are here for everyone. As the Verge reported:
“We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” said a company spokesperson in a statement given to The Verge. “Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.”
TikTok is still all about social, easily consumable videos, just stop thinkg about it as ‘shortform’. Maybe it will
end up being what Quibi wanted to to be.
It’s easy to get annoyed by a move like this as another platform loses focus on what arguably made it unique. But what’s happening here is platforms are realising that easily consumable video is where audiences are gravitating to now, and more video lengths = more opportunities to serve your audience and serve ads.
That’s why we’ve seen YouTube go the opposite way and push Shorts. It’s about covering all bases and offering what users seem to want - lots of video.
However, one platform giving creators fewer options is Instagram, which is saying
RIP to its standalone IGTV app. Instagram, and increasingly Facebook, are focused on Reels now as a key driver of attention and revenue.
Really these changes all converge on one thing: relatively short videos displayed in a vertically scrolling, full-screen mobile feed, whatever app you’re using. Hey, it works, so get used to it.
