TikTok Taking On YouTube With Trials of 30-Minute Videos. In an aggressive move, TikTok is currently testing support for much longer 30-minute videos – far beyond its traditional 15-second to 3-minute clips. This brings it into direct competition with YouTube to attract longer-form content creators.
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, intends to transform the platform famous for short videos into an all-in-one entertainment medium for both viewers and creators. If launched widely, upload limits increasing to 30 minutes could enable posting of full TV show episodes, films, documentaries and more on TikTok.
The feature has been spotted in testing by industry expert Matt Navarra. Along expected lines, the iOS and Android test versions add fast-forward functionality to skip portions in long videos by holding down on the screen. Similar tap-and-hold scrubbing was implemented when 10-15 minute videos surfaced.
For now, it is uncertain if or when 30-minute videos will roll out globally to all users. TikTok still retains its core identity of snackable short video content. But similar to arch-rival YouTube introducing Shorts, TikTok counterattacking into extended videos is now clearly on the horizon.
As ByteDance aggressively expands worldwide, allowing half-hour videos would attract more professional creators in search of platforms permitting entire shows or podcast episodes. Although skewing younger in demographics, TikTok crossing over into traditional long-form digital video signals worrying signs to YouTube. This strategic shift demands substantial infrastructure ramp-ups for TikTok but takes it head-on against the video giant. Let the streaming video wars begin on both short and long formats!
