Instagram Tests 90-Minute Horizontal Videos

Instagram wants your long videos now. Yes, the same app that spent years shoving vertical Reels at all of us. On Monday it started testing something called Features: sideways videos up to 90 minutes long.

What happened

Instagram head Adam Mosseri and VP of product Tessa Lyons announced the test in a video on Instagram. According to The Verge, Features is starting with a small group of creators in the US, and some creators in Brazil are already testing it. Instagram is aiming it at video podcasts, comedy specials, interviews, vlogs and other long shows.

It came with a few related tests, which Variety laid out:

• Up to eight Reels can link to one long video, so a clip can send you straight to the full episode.
• Series, a home on a creator's profile for episodic Reels, will reach more countries by the end of 2026. It's been tested in the US, India and Mexico since the spring.
• Instagram Live will start showing up in the Reels tab for people who don't follow the creator, beginning with more countries "soon."
• The Instagram TV app will put Features front and centre, and a phone-as-remote option is on the way.

Features videos will show up in the main feed and on Explore, so you don't have to go looking for them.

Why it matters

We've been here before. Remember IGTV? Instagram killed it off after it went nowhere. What's different this time is how people already use the app. Podcast and stand-up clips are all over Reels, and right now the full episode lives on YouTube. Instagram would like you to stop leaving.

Creators get a worse deal, though. Per Variety, there's no ad revenue share on Features. Instagram is paying some creators directly and says it's too early to settle on a long-term model. YouTube pays out a cut of ads, and that's a big part of why long-form people stay put. No money, no mass move, at least in my view.

It also explains why Instagram has been pushing onto TVs. Over the weekend I wrote about the Instagram app landing on Apple TV, and widescreen 90-minute videos make far more sense on a TV than on a phone.

What to do

• As a viewer, you don't need to do anything. If you're in a test region, longer horizontal videos will just start showing up in your feed.
• If you're a creator, keep an eye on your professional dashboard for an invite, but don't move your long videos off YouTube yet. Without a revenue share, it's a reach experiment, not income.
• If you already cut clips from long shows, the Reels-to-full-video link is the part worth trying first once it reaches you.