Instagram Looking to Add Long-Form Video (Report)
Facebook-owned Instagram is considering the addition of long-form video uploads, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. The service has been working on a feature that would allow users to post vertical videos up to an hour length, according to the report.
An Instagram spokesperson declined to comment.
Up until now, Instagram has limited the length of videos posted to a user’s timeline to 1 minute. Videos posted to Instagram Stories have to be even shorter, and are capped at 15 seconds. Users can already stream live videos for up to an hour, but the WSJ report suggests that the service is considering to extend this time limit to content that isn’t broadcasted live.
Adding long-form video could help Facebook to further monetize Instagram’s sizable audience. The service surpassed 800 million monthly active users last September, 500 million of which visit the service every single day. Instagram Stories are being viewed by 300 million users every day.
At the same time, adding long-form video could also help Instagram make inroads against YouTube. The Google-owned video sharing site is the most popular internet service among teens, according to a recent Pew Research study. The same study had Instagram on second place, but Facebook trailing fourth behind Snapchat.
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