Instagram tests long-form widescreen video with Features

Instagram is testing Features on a limited basis — a widescreen video format for videos up to 90 minutes long, complementing Reels. The project’s long-term monetization strategy has yet to be determined.

Instagram experiments with long-form widescreen video

Instagram is beginning a limited test of Features, a new way to publish long-form widescreen videos. The company plans to develop the format alongside short videos while keeping the platform focused on communication and creativity.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri admitted that he had previously opposed long-form video in the app. However, he said, the company now has several reasons to reconsider its approach. In the announcement, he appeared alongside Tessa Lyons, Instagram’s vice president of product.

Lyons supports the move to a long-form format. She recalled that she and Mosseri helped launch Reels several years ago. Creativity, she said, isn’t limited to short videos and carousel posts: creators tell stories in a wide range of formats. Some release a series of short videos, while others make longer videos and then use selected clips in Reels to attract new audiences and expand their reach.

How to make long videos fit Instagram’s vision

For Mosseri and Lyons, it’s important that the new format doesn’t turn Instagram into an entertainment-only service. Mosseri explained that he has long been concerned with how to preserve the platform’s defining feature — the ability to stay connected with friends. That’s why the team is aiming to make short and long videos complementary formats.

One possible approach is to publish a full video and then create short clips from it that are suitable for Reels and for promoting the content. A significant share of short videos on Instagram are already made from longer videos, so the platform could become a place where creators post both formats and connect them.

Features has a predecessor

This isn’t Instagram’s first attempt to develop long-form video. On June 20, 2018, the company introduced IGTV, a standalone app designed for this type of content. Unlike the current idea of widescreen videos, IGTV focused on the vertical format.

The service allowed users to upload videos up to one hour long and promised new ways to interact with creators. IGTV officially shut down in March 2022, although by then the project had effectively lost momentum well before it was discontinued.

Features videos can be up to 90 minutes long. Instagram hopes the new product will be more successful than IGTV, and is rolling it out gradually for now: only some creators have access as part of the limited test.

The development of Features is also tied to Instagram’s recent efforts to show content on TVs. For example, the Instagram app for Apple TV already supports videos in this format.

How creators will earn money remains an open question

The monetization model for long-form videos has yet to be determined. According to Variety, Instagram is currently working directly with select creators who are making content for Features. The company has not yet developed a long-term revenue model for this initiative. It will likely announce one before the option to publish these videos becomes available to everyone.