TikTok is testing the ability for users to upload 60-minute videos — as the company continues to embrace long-form content and compete head-on with YouTube.
According to a report by TechCrunch on Thursday, TikTok is now allowing some users to upload videos up to one hour in length.
The company confirmed to the publication that the feature is available to a limited group of users in select markets. TikTok says it does not have any immediate plans to make the feature available widely.
According to TechCrunch, TikTok says that it often hears from creators who want more time in their videos “for features like cooking demos, beauty tutorials, educational lesson plans, comedic sketches, and more” and this led the company to test 60-minute long videos on the app.
When the video app launched in September 2016, TikTok users could only upload videos that were up to 15 seconds in length.
Currently, TikTok users can upload videos that can be up to three minutes long.
However, in recent months, TikTok has been gradually attempting to increase the time limit and move away from the short-form video format.
In October last year, TikTok began testing the ability for users to upload 15-minute videos.
Then, in January, the company was spotted testing the ability for TikTok users to upload 30-minute videos. In the same month, TikTok was spotted incentivizing creators to start posting longer, horizontal videos.
The traditionally vertical video platform has reportedly offered creators the opportunity to “boost” videos that are horizontal and more than a minute long.
TikTok’s decision to allow some users to upload videos of up to 60 minutes is the company’s most significant move towards long-form content to date.
The increased time limit may make TikTok a bigger competitor for YouTube — which has typically been known for its long-form video content.
However, YouTube has also been attempting to take on TikTok’s domination in terms of short-form video.
In the past year, YouTube has launched a new tool that allows creators to turn their existing longer videos into “Shorts”. It has also allowed content creators using YouTube Shorts to monetize their short-form videos.
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