Instagram Is Finally Making Peace With Long Videos

Instagram is testing a new longform video format called Features, pushing the app further into widescreen, YouTube-style territory than it's ever gone before. The format is rolling out today as a small test in the US, with additional testing underway among select creators in Brazil, according to Instagram spokesperson Megan Buckley.

The move marks a real shift for the company. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said in a video posted alongside the announcement that he's been opposed to longform video on the platform "for a long time." His reasoning: Instagram's core identity is about connecting with friends, not just consuming content, and longform video doesn't fit that model well. As Mosseri put it, a long video tends to be something you watch rather than something you'd forward to a friend, unlike a Reel, photo, or carousel — which translates into fewer likes and shares, the currency Instagram has built its engagement around.

So what changed? According to Mosseri, the team is now trying to make shortform and longform video "symbiotic" rather than treating them as competing formats. He pointed to podcasts and comedy specials as examples of content that works both as a full-length piece and as something that gets chopped into shorter clips. The idea is that Features and Reels can feed each other instead of cannibalizing attention.

The announcement came in a six-and-a-half-minute video featuring Mosseri and Instagram VP of product Tessa Lyons, posted in a widescreen format that itself doubles as a demonstration of what Features looks like. Mosseri also discussed the update with creators Samir Chaudry and Colin Rosenblum in a separate video, which included clips showing how longform content will actually appear on the platform.

Part of a bigger TV push

This isn't happening in isolation. Instagram launched a dedicated TV app late last year, initially built around Reels and piloted on Amazon Fire TV devices in the US. Since then, it's expanded to Google TV, Samsung TV, and Apple TV, and Instagram added the ability to watch Stories on the app earlier this year. Features slots neatly into that trajectory — if Instagram wants people watching on their television, it needs content built for a television-shaped screen, not just vertical clips designed for a phone held upright.

Alongside Features, Instagram is testing a handful of other video tools aimed at the same goal: clips that link out to a longer video, a way for creators to bundle Reels into a "series," and improvements to how people discover live video on the app.

Why it matters

Instagram built its video strategy around Reels for years, chasing TikTok's short-form dominance while largely ceding longform ground to YouTube. Features suggests that strategy is no longer sufficient. YouTube has spent years becoming the default destination for everything from full-length podcasts to TV viewing, and Instagram's TV app expansion shows the company wants a piece of that living-room audience. Mosseri's comments make clear the company isn't abandoning its social roots to get there — it's betting that long and short video can coexist and reinforce each other rather than force a tradeoff.

Whether that symbiosis actually works in practice is the open question. Instagram has spent years training creators and users to think in short, shareable bursts. Getting both groups to embrace longer sits-and-watch content, without diluting the dynamics that make Reels work, is a harder problem than shipping a new format. For now, Features remains a limited test — the real signal will be whether Instagram expands it broadly, and how creators choose to use it once they get access.