Instagram announced that their Reels length limit is being extended from 30 seconds to 60 seconds for all users.
Instagram has been experimenting with longer Reels for some time now. Last September, Instagram extended Reels from 15 to 30 seconds. And given that TikTok now enables the upload of longer clips (up to 3 minutes), and YouTube Shorts (another TikTok competitor) can also be up to 60 seconds in length. It was only a matter of time before Instagram followed the trend and extended the length of time users had to upload to Reels.
Instagram already enables longer video uploads in its other elements. Regular feed videos can be up to 60 seconds, while you can also upload longer videos in 15-second snippets to Stories, and hour-long clips to IGTV.
The extension of Reels clips starts to bleed into IG’s other functions, which maybe makes it a less definitive option within the broader Instagram experience. It can give more users the capacity to create longer clips, or re-purpose the same posts that they’re already uploading to TikTok and YouTube Shorts anyway. By moving in line with the other platforms, Instagram seems to be welcoming more cross-posting, which will give it more content for Reels. The only problem is that it may also make for a more repetitive experience across apps.
Instagram is currently experimenting with a new, TikTok-like display format for Explore, which does mash all of the content into a single format. That will certainly help your page get discovered, but what about all the other publishing options Instagram has?
Will you be posting longer Reels? Is Instagram becoming too much? Let us know in the comments below.