Now Instagram Wants to Be YouTube 🫠 (and I have THOUGHTS)

90-minute videos, a TV app, and one very big catch nobody’s talking about

Okay bestie, I HAVE to talk about this because it’s kind of huge!!

Instagram, the app that has spent the last few years telling us Reels are everything, is now testing 90-minute videos. Not 90 seconds. Ninety. MINUTES. 😳

So let’s get into it. What actually happened, why Instagram is doing this, and the catch I want every single creator to know before you start dumping full podcast episodes on the grid.

What Instagram just launched (the girl-to-girl version)

On October 26, Instagram started testing a new format called Features. Here’s the scoop:

• Horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long. Podcasts, vlogs, interviews, comedy, episodic shows. Basically all the stuff that has always lived on YouTube!!

• Clips as Reels. You can cut short moments from your long video and post them as Reels, and each one links straight back to the full video. So your Reels become little trailers for your long-form content, all inside the app. Obsessed with this tbh.

• Instagram on your TV. Yep, Instagram has a TV app on Samsung, Fire TV and Google TV, and it’s rolling out on Apple TV in the U.S. Instagram’s VP Tessa Lyons said they think the best way to watch long horizontal videos is “on a big horizontal screen.” Couch scrolling era, here we come.

• Who has it right now: a small test group. It started with creators in Brazil, and U.S. creators in the first test include podcast host Emma Grede, beauty creator Monet McMichael, interviewer Preston Rakovsky and football creator Donald De La Haye. Instagram says it plans to open it up to tens of thousands of U.S. creators over the coming months.

• It’s not exclusive!! You can post the same video on YouTube and keep your existing brand deals.

So if you don’t have it yet, don’t panic. You’re not missing a button. It’s coming, girl.

Okay but WHY is Instagram doing this?

Because YouTube is winning the living room. Period.

People aren’t just watching YouTube on their phones anymore. They’re watching it on their TVs, like Netflix. Podcasts moved to video, and video podcasts moved to YouTube. Disney just signed a deal with Dude Perfect. Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer who filmed himself with a tripod for YEARS, has a Netflix show coming out. YouTube creators are literally becoming TV networks!!

Instagram has had our attention 30 seconds at a time. Now it wants the full 90 minutes too. As Tessa Lyons put it, “we need more than just short-form video.”

And the timing? Very interesting. On February 1, YouTube is doubling what new channels need to get paid: 8,000 watch hours instead of 4,000. So YouTube is raising the bar right as Instagram rolls out the welcome mat. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, and I’ll be watching to see who blinks first. 👀

Okay, the catch: where’s the money?? 💸

Bestie, this is the part I really need you to hear.

On YouTube, creators get 55% of the ad revenue on their long videos. That’s a real, recurring paycheck.

On Instagram? There’s no ad revenue share for these videos. Meta told TechCrunch it’s “too early” to share a long-term plan for how creators will earn. Right now Instagram is directly paying some of the creators in the test, but that’s not a program you can apply for.

And Adam Mosseri has been very open about how he feels about paying creators directly. He said on the Colin and Samir Show that Instagram’s creator payouts lose money, and Net Influencer reported this week that he’s still making that argument. He’s said he’d rather help creators get paid by brands than pay them out of Instagram’s pocket.

So if you’re picturing Instagram turning into a second YouTube paycheck, I’d pump the brakes. At least for now!!

What I’m seeing from the agency side

Okay so here’s how I’d translate all of this as someone who manages creators and lives in brand inboxes all day long.

Brand deals are still the paycheck. Instagram is literally saying it plans to help creators find more brand partnerships for long-form content. THAT’S the business model. Not ad revenue. Brands.

Longer videos = more things you can sell. A 30-second Reel has room for one mention. A 45-minute episode has an intro sponsor, a mid-roll read, a product moment, AND clips. That’s so much more inventory to price, and so many more ways for one brand deal to grow!!

Your Reels just got a new job. If Clips as Reels works the way Instagram says it will, every Reel can send people to a longer video where they actually get to know you. And THAT’S how followers turn into an audience that buys what you recommend. 🫶

So... should you post long videos on Instagram?

My honest take: I don’t know. I don’t love that IG said we don’t know if we’re going to pay creators yet. Youtube is the #1 monetization platform and the #1 platform for pricing for brand deals. Instagram, in my opinion is NOT going to top that or replace it.

And honestly, if people can see your podcasts or long form youtube videos on IG while they’re doomscrolling there is no reason to go over to youtube and watch it. Missing out on tons of ad revenue so I’m honestly a little weary of posting your high value content (long form) on Instagram… But you do you girl!!

YouTube still pays you for long videos, people search it like Google, and those videos keep getting views for years. Instagram long-form is a fun bonus distribution channel right now, not a replacement.

Here’s what I’d do this week:

1. Keep YouTube first. If you already film long-form (a podcast, a vlog, a get-ready-with-me), keep publishing it on YouTube first. When Features opens up to you, post the same video on Instagram too. It’s not exclusive!!

2. Start cutting your long videos into Reels NOW. Pick the 3 strongest 30 to 60 second moments from every long video. This habit is gonna matter even more once those Reels can link back to the full thing.

3. Update your rates, babe. If a brand asks for a long-form integration, it should NOT cost the same as a Reel. More time, more attention, more value. Plus youtube videos are evergreen and will continue to grow overtime more than your ancient reels. Price it that way. 💅

The bigger picture

A few years ago, the advice was “pick a platform and go all in.” Now every platform wants to be every format. TikTok wants to be shopping. YouTube wants to be TV. Instagram wants to be YouTube. LOL.

And honestly? That’s GOOD news for you!! When platforms fight for creators, creators get more options. The ones who win are the ones who own their audience no matter which app is winning that month: your email list, this Substack, and a community that would follow you anywhere.

I’m breaking this ALL down out loud (plus Kylie Jenner’s YouTube vlogs and YouTubers getting Netflix shows!!) on the next episode of Content for Breakfast on November 3. Come hang out with me!!

And tell me in the comments: would you watch a full podcast episode on Instagram? Or is Instagram forever a scroll app to you? I’m SO curious. 👇

x, Brielle