Is TikTok considering introducing long videos? The Chinese want to fight YouTube
There have been leaks that suggest that TikTok is testing the ability to upload up to 30-minute videos in its app.
At the very beginning, there were videos only 15 seconds long, which turned into one-minute videos. After this phase, TikTok increasingly extended the length of allowed videos in its application: first to 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, and finally, in October 2023, TikTok allowed the uploading of 15-minute videos and in this form the application still functions to this day. However, this is about to change soon.
TikTok wants to increase advertising revenues
The whole point of extending the length of videos available on the Chinese social media platform was, of course, mainly to increase advertising revenues. The longer the video, the more you can cram into it.
TikTok is currently a real goose that lays golden eggs, because millions of users use it every day. It is therefore not surprising that the platform’s managers are planning to extend the allowed videos again – this time to 30 minutes.
Long videos on TikTok
How do we even know that TikTok intends to show its users 30-minute videos soon? The source of the leak is a person working in the company, a certain Matt Navarra, who serves as a social media consultant.
The man shared a screenshot online showing a message in the application, which states that the development version is currently testing the ability to upload 30-minute videos. And the description of the image reads as follows: “TikTok is coming for your long videos, YouTube.”
TikTok sends a signal to YouTube
No one should have any doubts that such a leak, coming directly from a person within the structures of a Chinese corporation, did not emerge accidentally. In this way, TikTok creates media buzz and tests users’ reactions, and at the same time sends a signal to the competition. With 30-minute videos, TikTok will be able to compete with YouTube, where the most popular videos rarely last longer than half an hour.
Unless we are talking about productions such as Krzysztof Stanowski’s famous three-hour film about the incredible career of an extremely talented artist, celebrity and successful woman.