Does Instagram want to take on YouTube with longer videos?

According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook is considering removing video length limits on Instagram. The change would mean that people publishing videos on Instagram could start sharing videos up to an hour in length. This is yet to be confirmed, however, as the report in The WSJ says that the big wigs at Instagram are still on the fence and may decide against the change.

At the moment, there is only one way to share videos longer than a minute on Instagram, and that is by live streaming. Other than that, videos in Instagram Stories can be up to 15 seconds, with main feed videos having the one minute limit.

Instagram Download Instagram

Instagram Stories has been very successful, with Tech Crunch reporting over 300 million daily active users of the feature back in November. The Stories feature allows users to upload temporary narratives that can include images, stickers, and videos. Many people see it as a direct knockoff of what Snapchat offers, and it looks now like Instagram might be about to start copying YouTube too.

This move towards longer video makes sense for Instagram, and The WSJ reported that they’ve already started discussing partnerships with professional content producers. Facebook has long been pushing premium video content, but with younger users preferring Instagram to Facebook, these efforts will have escaped millions of social media users. If Instagram decides to push ahead and remove video time limits, it’ll surely be a bid to recapture this younger audience and earn the higher yield ad revenues that come with longer video content.

The decision is still very much up in the air, but according to the WSJ report, if Instagram does make the change, users won’t need to download a new app. The longer form videos will be hosted on the main Instagram app.

Would you like to see longer videos on Instagram?