TikTok is testing the ability for users to upload 60-minute videos. The feature is currently available to a limited group of users in select markets, and TikTok says it has no immediate plans to make the feature widely available.
Longest videos on TikTok
The feature marks a change from TikTok's original format. At first, the app allowed users to upload 15-second videos, but TikTok has increased that limit in recent years. While the company rose to prominence for its short-form video format, it has slowly embraced long-form content for challenge one of its biggest competitors: YouTube.
TikTok says that while creators can weave together multi-part stories by telling viewers to skip to the second part or more of a story, often gets feedback from creators who want more time for content like cooking demonstrations, beauty tutorials, educational lesson plans, comedy sketches and more.
The purpose of the increased time limit is to give creators the opportunity to experiment with new types of content or expand it with more flexibility, the company says. Naturally, this puts TikTok in even more direct competition with YouTube. By giving creators the ability to upload 60-minute videos to TikTok, the company likely hopes that they will gradually migrate their content to its platform.
TV series on TikTok
The expanded time limit could also allow for a new type of content on TikTok, which are full episodes of TV shows.
Last year, Peacock made the first episode of “Killing It” available for free on TikTok, but it was split into five parts. If TikTok launched videos with a 60-minute upload limit, networks would no longer have to split an episode into multiple parts.
Many networks already upload the first episode of a TV show to YouTube to attract new viewers, and with this expanded time limit, they could do the same on TikTok. Networks are already using TikTok to reach viewers, and the expanded upload time limit could encourage them to share more content on TikTok.
While not everyone would be interested in watching longer content on TikTok, the company has sought to improve the viewing experience for users who watch long-form content. For example, the company tested a horizontal full-screen mode e Scrollable video thumbnails. It also launched a feature last year that lets you fast-forward through videos by holding down the right side of a video.
As with any testing feature, there's no word on when or if TikTok plans to roll out the 60-minute video upload option widely—we'll see.
