Instagram Video Test Lets Brands Go Long Form
Instagram is testing videos that run up to 90 minutes, according to SmartCompany. Meta announced the test on October 26, and a limited group of creators in the U.S. and Brazil are the only ones with access today.
Here is why you should care. Your best long video may soon live where your customers already scroll every day. If you already study Instagram for business, you can start planning now instead of scrambling later.
What Instagram Is Actually Testing
The new format is called Features. Select creators can publish wide, long videos, and Instagram will surface them in the home feed and Explore. In addition, each long video can carry as many as eight linked reels, which gives viewers a path from a quick clip to the full story.
No release date has been announced for Australia or most other markets. That means this is a test, not a launch, and Meta could change the rules before it reaches you.
| Announced | October 26, 2026 |
| Maximum length | 90 minutes |
| Where it appears | Main feed and Explore |
| Linked short reels | Up to eight per long video |
| Test markets | Brazil and the United States |
Why Long Instagram Video Changes Your Content Math
Most founders I know treat YouTube as the home for long content and Instagram as the place for quick hits. That split costs you reach. Every time you ask a follower to leave the app, some of them simply do not follow you out.
Strategist Atiyya Batty says the big draw is that viewers never have to leave the app. Meanwhile, Jo Austin of the agency Short and Social pointed out a practical benefit. If your Instagram audience is larger than your YouTube audience, old long videos could finally get a bigger crowd.
Think about a simple example. Say you record one forty-minute customer interview each month. Today that might become a single clip and a blog post. With long Instagram video, the same interview could become a full episode plus several short teasers, all living in one place. That is more output from the same hour of work, and it is exactly the kind of leverage a small team needs.
Build a Long-Form Plan Before the Rollout
Start with what you already own. Product demos, founder interviews, podcast episodes, and behind-the-scenes footage all fit the format. As a result, you may not need to shoot anything new to test it.
Next, plan your cut-downs. Pull three or four short reels from each long video and link them back to the full piece. If your team is small, a simple AI email marketing workflow can help you announce each long video to your list, so you are not relying on the feed alone.
Quality also needs a short checklist. Record clean audio first, because viewers forgive average video but not muffled sound. Open with the payoff in the first thirty seconds, add chapters or on-screen markers where you can, and end with one clear next step, such as booking a demo.
Finally, decide what success looks like before you post. Pick one number, such as watch time, profile visits, or demo requests, and track it for each video. Without that, you will only have a feeling about whether it worked.
The Money Question Nobody Has Answered
Here is the catch. YouTube pays creators, but Instagram currently does not pay for this format. Meta has talked about brand partnerships and rewards tied to performance, yet it has not rolled out a broad ad revenue share.
For a business, that matters less than it does for a full-time creator. You are not trying to earn ad income from the video. You are trying to sell something, so the real test is whether more minutes with your brand lead to more customers.
That link is still unproven. Batty’s view is that extra viewing time keeps a brand fresh in a shopper’s memory, yet nobody has proven it for this format. Treat it as a hypothesis and run a small experiment. Also remember that early adopters often get a boost from new features, although Meta has not confirmed that here.
Protect Your Brand While You Experiment
Long video exposes more of your brand for more minutes. Poor audio, rambling intros, or sloppy claims will hurt you more than a ten-second clip ever would. Good AI brand design tools can keep thumbnails and titles consistent, which helps a first-time viewer trust what they are about to watch.
Review Instagram’s business resources as well, since Meta usually publishes guidance when it widens access to a new tool. Then set a small budget of time, not money, and commit to a few posts before you judge the results.
Instagram Video Questions Founders Ask
Can my company use the 90-minute format today?
Probably not yet. Meta is restricting the test to a small creator group, and only two countries are included so far.
Should I stop posting on YouTube?
No. YouTube pays creators and has a long search history, while Instagram’s rewards for this format are unclear. Keep both until your own numbers say otherwise.
What should I do this week?
Audit your existing long videos, choose two that would work as a test, and write down the one metric you will use to judge them.
The founders who win with new formats are rarely the most creative. They are the ones who prepared a library, picked a metric, and moved the day access opened.
