Instagram is making its most significant strategic shift in years, moving firmly into territory traditionally dominated by platforms like YouTube. In an announcement video posted on October 26, the Meta-owned social media giant unveiled its latest product offering, a new format called "Features." According to Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Vice President of Product Tessa Lyons, Features marks the platform’s first major push into long-form, horizontal video, allowing creators to upload content up to 90 minutes in length.
This represents a massive leap from the previous 20-minute maximum limit established for vertical videos on Instagram Reels. Mosseri noted in the announcement that the company expects Features to begin rolling out in a limited capacity starting this month, with plans to gradually expand availability to "more and more people" over time. The introduction of horizontal, long-form content fundamentally challenges how users and creators interact with the app, signaling a major evolution in Instagram’s visual identity and content strategy.
For years, Instagram has been defined primarily by its square photo grids, Stories, carousels, and, more recently, the explosive popularity of vertical short-form video through Reels. However, leadership argues that the broader creative ecosystem has outgrown those strict boundaries.
"Instagram is all about connecting people over creativity, and creativity is so much more than just short-form video or posts and carousels," Lyons explains in the announcement video. "If we look at how creators are telling stories today, it’s in so many different amazing formats."
This sentiment underscores a broader realization within the company that modern digital creators do not confine their storytelling to a single aspect ratio or duration. By accommodating longer narratives, Instagram is positioning itself as an all-encompassing hub for content creators who might otherwise have to direct their audiences to external platforms to share in-depth productions, vlogs, documentaries, or tutorials.
The pivot to long-form content is particularly notable given the professional history of Instagram’s leadership. Mosseri, who spent an 18-year tenure at Facebook before taking the helm at Instagram in 2018, has historically expressed hesitation and opposition toward introducing long-form video formats to the platform. For a long time, Instagram’s strategy remained laser-focused on quick-hit content designed to capture fleeting attention spans in a crowded mobile marketplace.
Now, however, Mosseri and Lyons have concluded that embracing long-form video is essential. They believe that adding extended horizontal videos to the app is the most effective way to meet creators where they currently operate, acknowledging that modern digital creators rely on a diverse toolkit to build their brands and engage their audiences.
What is an Instagram Feature?
When designing Features, one of Mosseri’s key stipulations was ensuring that the new long-form option did not feel disconnected from the rest of the application. Instead, he mandated that the product must work in a "symbiotic" relationship with Instagram’s existing short-form content ecosystem. This foundational requirement is deeply baked into how the new long-form videos will appear and function for everyday users.
Mosseri explains that his product team noticed a distinct behavioral pattern among creators: many were already utilizing Reels as a promotional tool, posting short, bite-sized teaser clips of long-form content that they hosted elsewhere. With the introduction of Features, those creators will no longer need to send their followers to a different platform. Instead, they will be able to upload the entire source video directly to Instagram.
Furthermore, the platform is pairing the new format with enhanced integration tools. Creators will be able to link up to eight individual Reels directly to a single Feature. This creates what leadership describes as a natural segue from short-form discovery to long-form consumption, seamlessly bridging the gap between quick entertainment and deep-dive viewing.
The user experience is designed around this discovery loop. Rather than forcing users to browse a separate, disconnected video tab, Instagram aims to weave long-form content naturally into the viewing habits people have already developed on the app.
"One of the things that we’re already starting to see as we’re testing these different products is that people might discover a long-form video that they love by seeing a Reel that’s a clip of that video," Lyons says.
By allowing the fast-paced, algorithmic discovery of Reels to funnel viewers directly into 90-minute horizontal videos, Instagram is attempting to solve one of the biggest challenges facing digital platforms: how to convert casual scrollers into dedicated long-form viewers without disrupting the user experience. As the rollout begins this month, the success of Features will largely depend on how creators adopt the horizontal format and whether users embrace watching extended content within an app traditionally built for speed.
