It has been confirmed that TikTok is expanding its video capabilities to include longform content. The platform, currently facing a potential ban in the U.S., stated to TechCrunch on May 16 that it is testing the feature for users to upload 60-minute videos. This feature is currently limited to a select group of users, as TikTok has no immediate plans to make it widely available.
The discovery of this new feature was made by social media consultant Matt Navarra. TikTok initially had a 15-second video limit, which gradually increased to 30 seconds, then 1 minute, then 3 minutes. Currently, users can create TikToks up to 10 minutes long since February 2022.
Users are now watching full TV shows and movies on TikTok, with NBCUniversal even uploading complete episodes of the sitcom “Killing It” to the platform (split into five parts).
However, some creators and experts are apprehensive about the shift towards longer-form content.
A ‘mini-YouTube’
Creator Nikki Apostolou expressed concerns in an interview with CNN, stating, “I feel like there are so many creators out there who came to TikTok because it was the short-form video app. And now they want to be like ‘mini YouTube,’ and I feel like it leaves out creators who came there for the short-form content.”
Digital culture scholar Krysten Stein from the University of Illinois-Chicago shared her thoughts on TikTok’s evolution towards longer-form content, noting, “The model of the short-form video was really useful when TikTok first launched, they could get people really quickly on the platform, it’s continuous scrolling and it goes fast.” She also mentioned, “I think TikTok is now [thinking], ‘We need to show [advertisers] that we can keep people staying on one video longer.’ But I’m interested to see how viewers are going to respond because what has kept people on the app is that the videos were short.”
Image generated by Ideogram
Leave a Comment