#long-form-video

Instagram is reportedly offering one-off payments of up to $500,000 to a selection of big-name creators to post long-form videos in Features, its new format for horizontal videos up to 90 minutes, Social Media Today reports. It is also giving long-form video a prominent spot at the top of the Explore page for some users, per screenshots shared by creator-economy analyst Lia Haberman.

The push addresses creators' main question: why post long videos on Instagram when its payouts are nowhere near YouTube's Partner Program? Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has acknowledged the app will need to change its payment program to attract long-form creators but hasn't settled how, Social Media Today reports. This follows Instagram's test of Features, which we covered last week.

Instagram is testing a format called "Features" that lets creators post horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long, the A.V. Club reports. Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who said "for a long time, I have been against doing long-form video on Instagram," announced it Monday, Oct. 26, in a nearly seven-minute video with product VP Tessa Lyons.

Lyons said people like watching Reels together on a TV, and a TV version of Reels needs more than short-form video. Mosseri described a "symbiotic" link between short and long videos across the mobile app and Instagram's TV app, and said the rollout will expand to more users over time. The National reports that it is being tested with select US creators after a trial in Brazil, and that Features videos will also appear in Instagram for TV, now on Apple TV in the US.

Neither executive named competitors, but the A.V. Club notes the move puts Instagram closer to YouTube's long-form territory.