Instagram to Debut Long-Form Video Hub Rivaling Snapchat’s Discover

Instagram is gearing up to debut a new section in its app for long-form videos to rival Snapchat‘s Discover.

When Instagram first introduced the ability to upload video files in 2013, the length of clips was limited to 15 seconds. Since then the limit has been increased to one minute, but that’s still not exactly long-form video.

Currently, the only way to share longer videos is by live-streaming, but according to a new report from TechCrunch, this could be changing soon. Apparently, the Facebook-owned mobile image sharing platform is working on the ability to allow uploads of videos with a length of up to one hour.

Videos that are an hour in length would be 60 times greater than the ones Instagram has allowed until now, and this would likely come with its own set of challenges. Instagram would not only need to figure out how to make sure the video quality is not affected, but it would also need to find out how to let users stream videos without it destroying their battery life and using up all their data.

The move will see Instagram take on rivals like YouTube and Snapchat, which teamed up with a host of major TV broadcasters and publishers like National Geographic, Vice, Comedy Central, CNN and ESPN for the launch of its Snapchat Discover platform in 2015.

It will also mark Facebook’s second major push into video content, following the launch of its Facebook Watch platform last year – a home for episodic content that Facebook said is designed for creators and publishers to “find an audience, build a community of passionate fans, and earn money for their work”.

Instagram plans to let creators and publishers earn money through their long videos, though it hasn’t finalized details of ad formats or revenue splits, according to TechCrunch. Facebook won’t pay Instagram creators upfront for the long videos like it does for Facebook Watch content.

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