Instagram wants to become a more serious home for long-form video. The harder part is convincing creators that reach is a business model.
Instagram is now allowing videos of up to 90 minutes and testing a new “Features” initiative that has offered selected creators between $50,000 and $500,000 to post longer content. The move is clearly aimed at YouTube, but the financial proposition is less clear. Instagram has not shared a concrete advertising model for long-form video, saying it is too early to do so.
That leaves creators weighing a familiar platform trade-off: massive discovery potential in exchange for uncertain income.
Instagram can offer attention. Creators want a business.
The appeal is obvious. Instagram already gives creators a powerful distribution funnel, with Reels helping attract new viewers and the platform’s sharing mechanics making content easy to circulate. A longer video format could let creators move audiences from quick discovery into interviews, scripted series, shows, and other programming without sending them elsewhere.
The problem is that discovery does not pay the production bill. Long-form video requires more planning, filming, editing, and often a larger team. Several experts quoted by Digiday questioned why creators would make original work for Instagram without a clear ad-revenue structure comparable to YouTube’s. One creator-economy strategist described the platform’s apparent offer as “discoverability as a form of payment.”
Instagram’s initial incentives also appear selective rather than structural. Payments to a limited group of creators can generate useful experiments, but they do not yet tell the wider creator market how long-form work will be monetized at scale.
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That uncertainty is already shaping how agencies think about the feature. Some experts suggest creators use existing programming or older YouTube catalogs to test how Instagram distributes longer videos before committing to original series. It is a low-risk way to learn whether reach can translate into stronger brand deals, audience growth, or a more valuable relationship with fans.
Others see a more native opportunity. Instagram’s short-form discovery tools, combined with longer videos and its TV experience, could create a loop where a Reel introduces a creator, a longer episode deepens the relationship, and the resulting audience becomes more attractive to advertisers.
The early creator response shows the tension clearly. In a survey cited by Digiday, 93 percent of Shine Talent Group’s creators said Instagram would need to change its revenue policies to persuade them to post long-form content. All of them already post on Instagram.
That is the strategic warning. Instagram may be able to borrow YouTube’s formats and compete for its creators, but it cannot simply borrow the expectation that exposure is enough. To make long-form video stick, it will need to turn attention into a repeatable creator business.