TikTok has announced that it is expanding the maximum length for uploads to 10 minutes. This is the second increase in length of videos in less than a year.
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Ever-longer videos
The app, which has over a billion users over a five-year period, became famous for its 15-second clips, which were eventually increased to 60 seconds.
That limit was pushed up to 3 minutes in July last year. On Monday, the company said it has increased the length of videos to give content creators more space to share their ideas. A company spokesperson said in a statement:
We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience. Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.
The company has been pushing longer content for a while now, with industry watchers saying the change is to allow it to better compete with YouTube, which raked in more than $28 billion in ad revenue last year. YouTube has also started tapping into the short-form content space with Shorts, while Meta has now introduced Reels on all its platforms, except for WhatsApp.
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Is longer better?
The appeal of TikTok has been its shorter clips that reward brevity and creativity. With a short video limits, users were challenged to produce compelling content under a minute. While some users welcomed the news, others were not so enthused, like this person who took to Twitter to lament:
I did not want or ask for this!! people already struggle to be succinct and clear storytellers on TikTok
Another said:
'What if we roll out a feature that more than triples the length of videos during an international misinformation crisis?' - TikTok
TikTok says the option to film longer videos on the app will roll out to global users over the weeks ahead when they receive notification for an update.
