Instagram Features Brings 90-Minute Videos to the App. Creators Still Want to Know Who Pays

Adam Mosseri spent years arguing that Instagram should not try to be YouTube. On Monday, he stood in a six-minute video next to Instagram VP of Product Tessa Lyons and announced that Instagram is going to try to be a little bit like YouTube.

The new format is called Features, and it lets creators post horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long inside the regular Instagram app. It is an early test for now, limited to select creators in the U.S. after an earlier trial in Brazil, and Instagram is pitching it squarely at video podcasters, comedians and people who make narrative series. Mosseri admitted he had been against long-form video on the platform. “It’s early, and we’re testing and listening to feedback as we go,” he said.

For Android users, there is nothing to download or switch on yet. But this is the clearest sign in years of where Instagram wants to take its app, and it puts Meta in direct competition with the one Google service that almost everyone on Android already uses every day.

What Instagram Features actually is

Think of Features as the full episode and Reels as the trailer. Reels are short, vertical and built for the swipe; Instagram says they typically run about three minutes or less. Features are long, landscape videos that live on a creator’s profile.

The two are meant to work together. A podcaster can pin a short teaser Reel to a full-length episode, and a viewer who catches a funny clip in their Reels feed can tap through to the full show without leaving the app. Lyons said full-length videos will also be recommended on the Explore page and in other parts of Instagram, which is the real lever here. Instagram’s recommendation engine is what turned Reels into a hit, and Meta is betting it can do the same for something you watch for an hour.

Instagram says Features will sit alongside Reels, Series, Live and its TV experience rather than replace any of them. According to Android Headlines, the first launch partners include fashion creator Monet McMichael, entrepreneur Emma Grede and sports interviewer Donald De La Haye.

How it compares

The money question nobody answered

That last row is the problem. YouTube gives qualifying creators 55% of the ad revenue on long-form videos, and that split is the reason so many podcasters and comedians treat it as home base. Instagram’s announcement did not include anything like it.

Instead, Lyons said established creators can bring their existing brand deals, ad placements and sponsored segments to Features. “There’s a big opportunity for us to help creators who don’t yet have that infrastructure,” she said, which is a nice line that skips over how those smaller creators would actually get paid. Android Headlines reports that Instagram is paying some test creators directly while it works out longer-term tools such as performance bonuses and brand partnership features, but no revenue-sharing terms have been published.

Commenters under the announcement picked up on this immediately, as 9to5Google noted: why post a 60-minute episode to Instagram for exposure when YouTube pays for the same file? It is a fair question, and Instagram does not have a good answer yet.

Features is a distribution play, not a paycheck. For now, it is a way to point Instagram’s huge audience at long videos and hope the money follows.

Haven’t we seen this before?

Yes. Instagram launched IGTV in 2018 as its answer to YouTube, complete with a separate app and vertical long-form video. It never caught on, and Instagram phased it out in 2022 to focus on Reels. The difference this time is that Features lives inside the main app, plays in landscape like every other long video on the internet, and is wired directly into the Reels feed that already holds people’s attention.

The timing also lines up with a broader push onto bigger screens. 9to5Google points out that the move was partly driven by people watching Reels together on TV apps, and Instagram has been expanding its Instagram for TV experience, including a version for Google TV and a recent U.S. launch on Apple TV where your phone acts as the remote. A 90-minute comedy special makes a lot more sense on a living room TV than a 30-second clip does.

Instagram is not alone. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Netflix and Disney are also bringing creator content to their platforms to compete with YouTube. Everyone wants the podcast audience, and video podcasts have turned into some of the most valuable programming on the internet.

What it means if you use Instagram on Android

Here is the practical picture for now:

• You probably won’t see it yet. Features is a limited U.S. test with a small group of creators. 9to5Google found the announcement video could not even be viewed outside the U.S.
• No app update is required on your end. Like most Instagram tests, it is switched on from Meta’s servers. Keeping the Instagram app updated through the Play Store is the only thing you can do.
• Look for it on profiles and in Explore. If a creator you follow is in the test, their full-length videos will appear on their profile, and Reels clips may link through to the full episode.
• Expect landscape playback. These are horizontal videos, so rotate your phone or cast to a TV with the Instagram TV app where it is available.
• No word on other regions. Instagram has not given a date for any wider rollout, including big markets like India.

The verdict: a smart test with a missing piece

Instagram is doing this the right way on the product side. Linking short clips to full episodes is exactly how people already discover podcasts and stand-up, and putting long videos in Explore gives creators a shot at an audience that YouTube’s algorithm might never show them. For viewers, it means less app-hopping.

But YouTube did not win long-form video because it had the best player. It won because creators could build a business there. Until Instagram puts real numbers next to Features, the smartest creators will treat it as a promotional channel and keep uploading the full show to YouTube first. If Meta announces a revenue share in the coming months, that calculation changes fast. Watch for that, not the 90-minute limit.

Sources: 9to5Google, 9to5Mac, Android Headlines, Beebom. Photo by Alex Suprun on Unsplash.