Instagram Is Testing 90-Minute Long-Form Videos: What Our Data Predicts

On October 26, Instagram started testing Features, a long-form video format for horizontal uploads of up to 90 minutes. Select creators in the U.S. can now upload podcasts, interviews, vlogs, and other long videos. They can then link their Reels to the full version, so viewers can keep watching with one tap.

The format is brand new, and there’s no performance data on it yet. Still, the way people watch Reels and YouTube videos today says a lot about how Features is likely to behave. It points to who stands to benefit first and what you can prepare before the format reaches your account.

What Instagram Announced

Instagram announced three connected updates at once, along with a few more that are still on the way.

Features

Features are horizontal videos of up to 90 minutes, designed for podcasters, comedians, interviewers, and other creators who already make long content. They appear in the main feed and on the Explore page, which means people who don’t follow you yet have a chance to come across them.

Creators in Brazil were the first to try Features. The U.S. test starts with a select group, and Instagram plans to expand it to tens of thousands of creators. There’s no date yet for a wider release.

Linked Reels

Creators in the test can connect a Reel to a Feature. If someone watches a two-minute clip from your podcast and wants the rest, they can tap through to the full episode without leaving Instagram. Before this, the usual way to send your Instagram audience to a full episode was a link to another platform.

Instagram for TV

Instagram is updating its TV app to prioritize Features. The app runs on Samsung, Fire TV, and Google TV, and it’s expanding to Apple TV in the U.S. Tessa Lyons, Instagram’s vice president of product, said she expects the big screen to become the main place for watching long horizontal videos.

What’s Coming Next

Instagram shared a few more updates that are still in progress:

• Series: Series collects episodic Reels in one place on a creator’s profile, so viewers can watch them in order. Instagram plans to test it in more countries and bring it to the U.S. by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
• Second Screen: Viewers will be able to control the TV app from their phone. They’ll be able to save a video on mobile for later, or start a Feature on their phone and finish it on the TV.
• Live in the Reels Tab: Live broadcasts will show up in the Reels tab, where people who don’t follow the account can find them. The update is launching in Indonesia and Brazil first, and Instagram plans to bring it to the U.S. in 2027.
• Background Playback: Based on what Instagram has shared so far, a Feature stops playing when you leave the app. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said this could change in the future.

Monetization Is Still an Open Question

Instagram doesn’t have a revenue-sharing program for Features, and Mosseri said there are no plans for one yet. Creators can bring their existing sponsorships into their Features, and Instagram says it’ll help creators who don’t have those deals find brand partners. Instagram isn’t asking for exclusivity, so the same video can live on YouTube and Instagram at once. For comparison, YouTube pays creators in its Partner Program 55% of the net revenue from ads on their long-form videos.

Why Instagram Is Adding Long-Form Video Now

Two years ago, Mosseri said Instagram wouldn’t go after long-form video because it would pull attention away from Instagram’s core purpose of connecting people with their friends. His argument now is that short and long videos can help each other, with Reels driving discovery and longer videos giving people somewhere to stay.

Television is a big part of the reason. According to Nielsen, YouTube has led U.S. TV viewing for three straight years. In August, it took almost 16% of all time spent watching TV. Netflix came in second with less than half that share. Netflix and Disney are adding video podcasts and creator shows to compete for the same hours, and Instagram wants part of that living-room time.

Viewer preferences point the same way. After years of fast scrolling and quick posts, many people want content that feels more thoughtful and more human. Content creator and strategist Latasha James shared this prediction in our 2026 Social Media Study:

“I predict the most drastic shift back to slow social we’ve seen in a while. Think long-form YouTube videos, blog posts, and the rise of comfort creators. After half a decade of snappy, shortform videos and an explosion of AI-generated content, people are craving a more human pace and authentic storytelling again.”

You can see it in the growth of longer YouTube videos, detailed newsletters, educational podcasts, and creators who build their work around storytelling. Slow social keeps the regular posting rhythm and puts more into each piece, so people get a story, a point of view, or a reason to come back. Long-form video gives you room for all three. You have space to explain an idea step by step, share a whole experience, and make something your audience may come back to. Features fits that pattern well, because it keeps short Reels as the way in and gives people the longer version when they want more.

What Our Data Says About Long Videos on Instagram

Features are too new to measure, so the patterns below come from how people watch Reels and YouTube videos today. Read them as signals of what’s likely to happen with long video on Instagram.

Instagram Viewers Are Already Watching Reels for Longer

Across the more than 24 million posts in our 2026 Instagram Study, the average watch time per Reel more than doubled in a year and reached 8.5 seconds. That’s encouraging for a long-form format, because it suggests Instagram is getting better at showing videos to people who want to watch them.

However, 8.5 seconds is a long way from 90 minutes. Most people open Instagram in short bursts, so the habit Features depends on (sitting down on purpose to watch something long) is one Instagram still has to build. Linked Reels and the TV app are how it plans to build that habit, since both move viewers who are already interested into a longer session.

Even on YouTube, People Watch Long Videos in Pieces

YouTube shows both sides of the slow social trend. In our 2026 YouTube Study, long-form views rose by about 76% in a year, so people are pressing play on long videos more often. Over the same period, the average view got more than a third shorter and now lasts around two and a half minutes.

If that’s happening on YouTube, most Features watched on a phone are likely to be watched in pieces. Someone might catch ten minutes of a podcast on the bus and move on, and that’s normal for long content today. Full sessions are more likely to happen on the TV, which is where Instagram is steering the format.

A Handful of Clips Can Lift a Long Video

Linked Reels pair short clips with a full video, much like channels that post Shorts alongside their long-form videos on YouTube. That makes YouTube’s numbers a useful hint about how many clips to post. Channels that posted around five Shorts a month got about twice as many views on their long-form videos as channels that posted no Shorts. Channels that posted 35 or more Shorts a month didn’t see that benefit, and their long-form videos performed about the same as those from channels with no Shorts.

This is a correlation, so other factors could explain the difference. For example, channels that post a few Shorts a month may be more consistent with their content overall. Even so, the pattern suggests a sensible way to start with Linked Reels: share a few strong clips for each Feature.

Shares Could Become the Main Path to Features

Sharing is where Instagram stands apart. Our Short Video Report compared more than 6 million videos on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and Reels got the most shares at every account size.

With Linked Reels, every share carries a path to the full video. If a friend sends you a clip from a podcast in your DMs, the whole episode is one tap away. That’s why a clip someone wants to send to a friend is likely to be the most valuable kind of Linked Reel you can post.

Features Could Keep Finding Viewers Long After Publishing

Instagram posts get most of their views fast, and around 70% arrive in the first three days. YouTube videos follow a different curve. They get their biggest push in the first few days, then settle into a slower pace that can keep bringing in views for months or even years.

It’s too early to know which pattern Features will follow. If Instagram keeps recommending Features in Explore and on the TV app well after they’re published, a single episode could find new viewers for weeks. If they behave like Reels, the first few days will decide most of their performance.

What We Expect to Happen Next

These predictions are based on the test details and the viewing patterns above, so treat them as educated guesses.

The first Features to find an audience will most likely be video podcasts and interviews. The test group leans that way, and conversations are easy to watch in pieces and easy to clip into Reels.

Early on, most Features will be videos that already live on YouTube. Instagram isn’t asking for exclusivity or sharing ad revenue, so creators have every reason to upload an existing episode and little reason to make long videos for Instagram alone.

Brands will find uses for the format beyond podcasts. A webinar recording, a product workshop, or a full class from a yoga studio could work as a Feature. Reels could pull out the most useful tips and send people to the full session.

Monetization will shape how many creators commit to the format. YouTube’s revenue sharing has been one of the hardest things for other platforms to compete with. If Instagram adds a revenue program, Features could become a second home for long-form shows. Until then, it’s more likely to work as a way to introduce Instagram followers to a show that earns its money somewhere else.

Reel analytics will start to include what happens after the clip. If Linked Reels catch on, a clip’s value will depend on its views, its shares, and how many people tap through to the full video. We’d expect Instagram to add metrics for that as the test expands.

How to Get Ready for Features

Features is only open to a test group for now, but you can start on most of the groundwork today:

• Start Clipping Long Videos for Reels: If you already have a podcast, webinar, or YouTube channel, start turning each episode into a few Reels. You’ll learn which moments make people stop and share, and you’ll have a tested set of clips ready when Linked Reels reach your account.
• Frame Horizontal Footage for Vertical Clips: Features are horizontal and Reels are vertical. If you record long videos in 16:9 and keep speakers near the center of the frame, you can crop clean vertical clips from the same footage.
• Plan a Few Linked Reels per Feature: Choose moments that make sense without context and that someone would want to send to a friend. A few strong clips per episode give viewers a clear reason to tap through.
• Build Long Videos in Sections: Since most mobile viewers will watch in pieces, structure each Feature so every segment works on its own. Clear topic changes make it easier to cut clips and easier for viewers to pick up where they left off.
• Mention Sponsors Early: If you bring an existing ad deal into a Feature, place the sponsor mention in the first few minutes. Shorter viewing sessions mean fewer people reach the middle or end of a long video, and on YouTube that has already cut into ad income.
• Write Descriptions People Can Search: Instagram search reads captions, and public posts have shown up in Google and Bing results since July 2025. If you describe each Feature with the words your audience would type to find that topic, it has a better chance of being discovered after its first few days.
• Track Your Reels Now for a Baseline: When Features opens up, you’ll want to know what changed. If you track your Reels’ views, shares, watch time, and retention (how much of each Reel people watch) today, you’ll have a clear comparison for your first Linked Reels. Metricool shows these metrics for every Reel in your Instagram analytics. In your YouTube analytics, you’ll see watch time and average view duration for each video, including Shorts.

What Instagram Still Has to Show Us

Features is still a test, and several big questions are open. Instagram hasn’t said how Features are ranked, how much reach they get compared with Reels, what creators will see in their analytics, or when the format will open to everyone.

Scheduling and analytics tools, Metricool included, can only work with what Instagram makes available through its API. Support for Features will depend on what Meta opens up after the test.

Instagram has tried long-form video before. IGTV launched in 2018 with videos of up to an hour and was phased out a few years later. This time, Instagram is pairing long videos with Reels that link to them and a TV app built for long viewing. It’ll still take a few months before anyone knows how people respond.

Where This Leaves Your Content Strategy

Long horizontal videos, clips that link to them, and a TV app to watch them on all point in the same direction. Instagram wants people to stay for longer than a scroll, and it’s building the paths to make that easy.

Creators will use those paths once they see reach and income behind them, and Instagram hasn’t settled either one yet. Until it does, the habits that already work on Instagram, such as clips people want to share and descriptions written for search, will give a Feature its best start.