TikTok will now let users post videos as long as 10 minutes as other platforms focus on short-form video

• A TikTok update allows users to make videos as long as 10 minutes, surpassing its previous max of three.
• The social-media consultant Matt Navarra told Insider that longer videos are easier to monetize.

TikTok on Monday released an update to allow users the ability to post videos up to 10 minutes in length, surpassing the previous maximum upload time of three minutes.

"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," a TikTok spokesperson told Insider Monday.

Previously, the maximum length for a TikTok video was three minutes, an update that the platform released in July. Before that, the videos were capped at 60 seconds. When the platform launched, videos could be no longer than 15 seconds.

The change is the latest instance of TikTok appearing to shift to better compete with other platforms, like YouTube, which allows users to upload videos of any length. The new upload limit also recalls the defunct Quibi, a short-form streaming app with 10-minute content designed for mobile viewing.

Matt Navarra, a Wales social-media consultant, told Insider that "longer video content" is less challenging to monetize because TikTok can intersperse "those sorts of clips with ads without them being" as frustrating "for the user."

He also said expanding the video length limit would give TikTok "more of an arsenal to compete with the likes of YouTube and other platforms where longer form video content is the norm," although he said he was interested to see how TikTok would "merge its famed algorithm for short-form content in that vertical feed with the long-form content, which isn't necessarily going to be easy."

He added the change gave TikTok creators a more expansive canvas to produce content, and he said that it created the potential for original programming to compete with streaming services, like Netflix and Disney+.

"I absolutely think it's part of building its competitive suite of creative tools and content formats to rival that of YouTube or others," he said.

While TikTok is opening the gates for longform, other platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have shifted their attention to promoting shorter content to compete with the former.

YouTube's Shorts, which launched in March 2021, recently surpassed 5 trillion views in total, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook and Instagram Reels were becoming a priority in an early February earnings call.

Navarra said he thought it was possible that TikTok could forgo video length altogether in the future and allow users to upload clips of any length, like YouTube.