Ultra short-form video app TikTok’ success, which has seen it become one of the world’s most popular video platforms, particularly among younger generations, has caused competitors to ape its vertical scrolling short-form model. Major competitors YouTube and Meta both run TikTok-like products in YouTube Shorts and Reels respectively. And even some long-running publishers are embedding ultra short-form snippets in their web pages.
But longer-form content still has plenty of sway, both with audiences and with advertisers looking to align themselves with more premium content. As such TikTok has been pushing back in the other direction, increasing the length of videos which can be uploaded to its platform. Its original formula only allowed videos which were 15 seconds long or less, but over the years it’s extended that limit up to one minute, then three minute, then ten minutes long.
Now TikTok is going further still, confirming that it’s testing letting some users upload videos up to one hour long.
TikTok told TechCrunch that it has no immediate plans to make the feature widely available, but it seems the platform is taking these tests seriously.. TikTok was also seen testing 30 minute uploads earlier this year. And the company says that extended upload times would allow users to create more varied types of content, and that some creators are already effectively trying to create long-form content by posting multiple videos covering one story or topic.
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Pushing into long-form is tricky territory for TikTok. The platform’s feed is designed for users to quickly flick between videos, and thus generally have to be designed to grab attention immediately – a formula that doesn’t really work for longer-form content.
TikTok has acknowledged in the past that some of its users find longer content disruptive to the experience. The company said back in 2022 that nearly half of those surveyed said they found videos longer than one minute long stressful, and a third of users said they watch at least some videos at double speed.
But this obviously doesn’t apply to all users. And for creators and advertisers, longer content could be very attractive.
On the creator front, as TikTok itself says, longer upload limits would enable them to release different types of content on the platform. For example video podcasting formats, which have grown in popularity alongside the growth in ultra-short form, could find further audiences on TikTok. Likewise longer instructional, educational, and video essay style videos, which are currently mostly limited to YouTube, could carry across to TikTok too.
Even mainstream broadcasters and publishers could bring across premium long-form content onto the app, as they look to build their own TikTok audiences. UK broadcaster Channel 4 for example is currently increasing the number of full episodes of TV shows it runs on YouTube – similar strategies could carry across to TikTok too.
This would all have big implications for TikTok’s ad business too. While ultra-short form video is extremely popular with viewers, and young audiences in particular, it’s so far proving harder to monetise than long-form video. TikTok’s CPMs are still anecdotally acknowledged to be lower than those of rival platforms.
Bringing in longer form content could give TikTok access to a lot more premium, advertising friendly inventory. It would also make it easier for TikTok to run traditional pre-roll and mid-roll ads, as well as longer ads, making it easier to quickly add TikTok onto a media plan alongside similar offerings. It might even open up opportunities in the CTV space, currently a big focus for YouTube and an area where X is looking to establish itself.
