TikTok is massively popular: 1 billion people log into the app each month.
Sarah Tew/CNETTikTok on Monday confirmed that it has expanded its maximum video length to 10 minutes. The popular social media platform has been steadily expanding the length of videos the last several years, extending videos first from 15 seconds to 60 seconds and then, in July, launching 3-minute videos.
“We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” a TikTok spokesperson said in an email statement. “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.”
TikTok is massively popular, with 1 billion people logging into the app each month, according to the company. While TikTok grew its initial audience with curated, short-form video clips, this update indicates the company is interested in keeping users on the app longer and competing against YouTube and Facebook in the market for long-form video content.
While TikTok seems to be slowly challenging YouTube in long-form video, other social media competitors have taken the opposite approach: Instagram launched a feature to create short-form videos, called Reels, in 2021, YouTube launched its Shorts feature in 2021 to compete with TikTok, and Snapchat introduced a TikTok-like feature called Spotlight in 2020.
