TikTok offers some users the ability to upload 60-minute videos to the platform. This could cause problems for YouTube and the streaming giants.
The driver was first spotted publicly by tech bulletin editor Matt Navarra. TikTok confirmed the feature to TechCrunch on Thursday.
It’s unclear in which regions the update is available, or if and when it will be available to more users. The company told TechCrunch that it has no immediate plans to widely roll out the 60-minute download feature.
The update is the latest effort by the Chinese social media platform to expand its product offerings as user growth slows. When it launched, the platform only allowed creators to post 60-second videos. The limit is now 10 minutes for all users and 15 minutes for some creators. TikTok’s competitors, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, offer similar download times.
The test puts TikTok in the same weight class as YouTube. This would allow content creators to upload videos requiring longer durations, such as in-depth tutorials or family and college vlogs, which are popular on YouTube.
YouTube beats TikTok in terms of overall users in the United States. More than 80% of U.S. adults told the Pew Research Center last year that they had ever used YouTube, while 33% had used TikTok. The short-form platform’s users skew young: 62% of 18- to 29-year-olds told Pew they use TikTok, and 93% of users in the same age group use YouTube.
But TikTok is ahead of YouTube in terms of minutes watched: last year, Business Insider sister company eMarketer predicted that by 2024, adult TikTok users would spend an average of 55 minutes per day on the platform, or five minutes longer than the YouTube average.
“Due to TikTok’s shorter content, the platform risks users discovering cut content and leaving the platform to watch the full version on YouTube,” eMarketer analyst Sara Lebow wrote in December. “Increasing video length could prevent a user from watching half of a video essay on TikTok and finishing the content on YouTube.”
Last week, BI reported that Google executives were encouraging employees who sell ads to capitalize on the possibility of a TikTok ban in the United States by having a “thoughtful conversation” with customers about the ban .
TikTok did not immediately respond to BI’s request for comment.
The longer video feature may also threaten streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Disney+. TikTok has a vast library of short, unofficially uploaded clips of popular TV shows and movies, which users watch on repeat. watch the show in full. Access to longer show videos could make this activity more common.
Television networks also leverage TikTok. Last year, streaming platform Peacock uploaded a pilot episode of its comedy show “Killing It” to TikTok. The episode, which was posted online in five parts, has been viewed millions of times. Longer video length would mean episodes could be uploaded all at once and audiences could shift from streaming services to TikTok.
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