Instagram is testing video uploads of up to 90 minutes and expanding playback to Apple TV, part of a broader push to position the platform as a long-form competitor to YouTube. But unlike YouTube, Instagram is still not offering creators a share of ad revenue.

The company announced the tests in a video featuring Instagram head Adam Mosseri and VP of product Tessa Lyons. The new format, called “Features,” allows longer horizontal videos for podcasts, vlogs, interviews, and episodic content. It had been testing with a small group of creators in Brazil and is now expanding to a small test group in the U.S. Instagram is also expanding “Clips as Reels,” which lets creators post up to eight short clips that link back to a long-form video, and rolling out Instagram for TV to Apple TV in the U.S., having already launched on Samsung, Fire TV and Google TV. A “Series” feature giving creators a dedicated home for episodic Reels, testing since spring 2026 in the U.S., India and Mexico, will expand to more countries by year’s end.

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Mosseri said he had resisted long-form video on Instagram for years. “I have been against doing long-form video on the platform for a long time,” he said, citing concern that longer viewing sessions reduce the shares and direct messages that come with Reels, photos and carousels. Lyons, who pushed for the change, said the goal is for short- and long-form video to work together rather than compete: “When you want to go deeper with the creators you love and the content that they’re creating, you should be able to do that on Instagram.”

On monetization, Meta has not committed to anything resembling YouTube’s ad-revenue share. A Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch the company is “exploring ways for creators to earn from brands, fans, and Instagram, including performance-based incentives,” but that “it’s too early to share a long-term monetization model.” Instagram told Variety it is currently providing direct funding to some creators making longer-form content to support the format while it tests.

The gap between the two platforms’ models is structural, not just a matter of timing. YouTube’s Partner Program pays creators 55% of ad revenue generated on their videos, and the company has said it paid out more than $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies over the prior four years. Instagram has no equivalent per-view payout; according to vidIQ, Instagram’s native monetization is limited to subscriptions, Live badges, its Branded Content tool and Shopping, with most creator income coming from brand deals and affiliate commissions negotiated outside the platform. 

Mosseri has previously described Instagram’s own performance-based payment program as small, telling the “Colin and Samir Show” that Meta “spend[s] more money than we make back by a long shot” on it.

Instagram’s history with long-form video includes IGTV, a similar feature it launched in 2018 and later shut down.

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