Instagram Launches 60 Second Videos

If you have missed the memo, Instagram has now extended its video clip length four-fold, from 15 to 60 seconds. Advertisers have been making the most of this change for a little while now, however it is now being gradually rolled out to all users.

Instagram, no doubt influenced by Facebook, has been slowly making moves to improve the quality of the content we see in our feeds. A few weeks ago they announced that the platform would start showing us ‘the moments you care about first’ by introducing a Facebook style algorithm, rather than in the chronological order format that we have been used to since the platform launched in 2010.

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The platform suggested on its blog that these changes are likely to be the first of many to improve user experience this year, stating that “we want to bring you fun, flexible and creative ways to create and watch video on Instagram”.

Longer videos proved successful on Facebook

Instagram clearly understands that sometimes 15 seconds just isn’t enough time to tell a story, and this decision is likely affected by the success of longer video content on it’s parent company, Facebook.

Another benefit of this update for regular Instagram marketers is that you can now crop and stitch clips together from multiple video clips in your gallery, meaning you don’t have to leave Instagram and do this in a third party app.

Big brands are yet to make the most of this change. Planning and creating a suitable piece of content to tell a brand's story is a tough job requiring a lot of thought.

This is a feature that has already been rolled out to many, however Instagram have stated that some may have to wait a few weeks before they see this change, which may be why some brands may have decided to wait a little longer.

The only change to the display is that the length of the video you are about to watch is shown by a small seconds countdown in the top right hand corner of the screen.

With more changes to come from Instagram, the platform is opening itself up to more brands and, if you aren’t already using it as part of your marketing, now may be the time to see how well it would fit into your digital strategy.

If you need any help implementing Instagram into your strategy then please feel free to get in contact.