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Instagram Now Allows Longer Videos and More Ads

Instagram Changes Forever with New Video Length

If you love posting videos on Instagram that inform the world about what you are up to, then the latest news from Instagram is going to make you very happy. Those who thrive of posting images and videos on this platform can now post longer videos that last up to 60 seconds. This is a huge step up from the previous high of 15 seconds. Users will be able to share more of their thoughts and share and learn about more of what they like.

Challenge of Change

This change is going to revolutionize the way that users are going to use Instagram forever. It has been a site that was convenient for posting selfies, images of food or quick pictures of what events you are attending. Now the focus is going to be shifted to unique video content and that is going to provide a more friendly location for this than Youtube. Their new feature is basically enhancing their explore feature except that it is focused on videos. It will be interesting to see if the changes are going to truly enhance the user experience or hurt what they already have.

This new video format has existed for advertisers for a few months and now the availability to all is the next step. In fact, Instagram is the 3rd most used social platform by advertisers.

Bringing the fun, creativity and flexibility of video to the users of Instagram was the goal of the new video features. Creativity has always been a hallmark of the picture posting phenomenon and it will be interesting to see how the users will make use of this. It is big Tech News because the ability to post longer videos allows for more in-depth stories and thoughts coming from those that you love, or at least tolerate. The involvement will be interesting whether it is your Aunt Minney from Idaho showing her garden or Taylor Swift hanging out with her friends. The opportunity for engagement and entertainment has grown exponentially.

A Minute is Key

Instagram chose 60 seconds for several reasons. The people behind Instagram feel that this amount of time is going to allow the viewing experience to be optimized. With a longer video, attention will wander and they will move to something else. 60 seconds is about equal to the attention span of the average person today. Instagram wants to keep its viewers in the feed and not jumping around from video to video like a user commonly does on YouTube. They want their viewers to finish the videos.

In research of YouTube metrics, they found that in all videos up to four minutes long, the viewership is always highest in the first 60 seconds and then falls off dramatically after that as attention wanes. On Facebook, the average video is about one and a half minutes. It made sense to Instagram, not to risk losing viewers after that time, they chose the 60-second cutoff. They feel this will guarantee consistent user participation. This is a great way for people and advertisers to be more creative in the messages that they are sending. It should affect the audience one way or the other, either they will love it and follow the posts more closely or they will be put off by the changes.

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