TikTok says it is testing 60-minute video uploads on its platform, after testing 30-minute video uploads in January this year. The 60-minute video upload feature is currently available to a group of TikTok users in some selected markets. The company however says that it doesn’t have any immediate plans to make this available to all users.
The new moves mark a shift from TikTok’s original strategy in which it created a niche for short video uploads. Originally, the app only allowed users to upload 15-second videos, with the threshold being increased severally. It is quite evident that TikTok has slowly embraced the option of a longer content upload. This duration restriction is not there on the foremost media content platform YouTube.
TikTok says that its creators have continued to yearn for greater width to allow them to tell their messages more poignantly if needed. Some content such as cooking demos, educational lesson plans, comedy, and much more, may require more than the current limit to pass the message. The arrangement will also allow full-episode TV shows to be uploaded on the platform.
While TikTok had encouraged its content creators to tell the viewers to go to the next part of the story, it is not always the case that the viewer gets the second part. In such scenarios, the overall message is lost because of seemingly incomplete content. The increased time limit therefore allows creators the opportunity to experiment with new or expanded types of content with greater flexibility. TikTok may be hoping to draw creators to post their longer content on YouTube to also post it on TikTok.
TikTok has also been tinkering with other features to enhance the user experience on the app. It has been reportedly testing a horizontal full-screen mode and video scrubbing thumbnails. It currently features the fast-forwarding function on the app, allowing the user to fast-forward a video by holding down the right side of the video. There are no specifics on how the sample of users with the new 60-minute upload feature was selected. It is also unclear how long the testing will be.
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