TikTok is testing the ability for users to upload 60-minute videos, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday. The feature is available to a limited group of users in select markets, and TikTok says it has no immediate plans to make the feature widely available.
The feature, which was first spotted by a social media consultant Matt Navarre, marks a change from TikTok’s original format. The app allowed users to upload 15-second videos at launch, but TikTok has increased that limit in recent years. While the company became popular for its short-form video format, it’s slowly embracing long-form content to take on one of its biggest competitors: YouTube.
TikTok says that while creators can string together multi-part stories by telling viewers to go to the second part of a story, it often hears from creators who want more time for things like cooking demonstrations, beauty tutorials, educational lesson plans, comedy sketches and more.
The purpose of the increased time limit is to give creators a chance to experiment with new or expanded types of content with more flexibility, the company says. Of course, this puts TikTok in even more direct competition with YouTube. By allowing creators to upload 60-minute videos to TikTok, the company is likely hoping that creators who typically post their content on YouTube will also post their videos on its platform.
The extended time limit could also allow for a new type of content to be posted on TikTok, which is full episodes of TV shows.
Last year, Peacock made episode one of “Killing It” available to watch for free on TikTok, but it was split into five parts. If TikTok rolls out the 60-minute video upload limit, networks will no longer need 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 frame, they could do the same on TikTok. Networks are already using TikTok to reach viewers, and the extended upload time limit could entice them to share more content on TikTok.
While not everyone would be interested in watching longer content on TikTok, the company is looking to improve the viewing experience for users who watch longer content. For example, the company is testing a full-screen landscape mode and cleaning video thumbnails. Last year it also launched a feature that lets you fast-forward videos by holding down the right side of a video.
As with any beta feature, it’s unknown when or if TikTok plans to widely roll out the 60-minute video upload option.
