Instagram no longer wants to be just short video. On 26 October 2026 Instagram announced a new format called “Features” that allows horizontal videos of up to 90 minutes and, according to The National, will roll out gradually over the coming weeks. The real plot twist is who’s delivering the news, because Adam Mosseri himself says he was against long-form video on Instagram for a long time. In plain English, if you’ve only been betting on Reels so far, you now need to plan on two tracks.

As of 28 October 2026. Features is a test and the details are still changing. We’ll update this post as soon as Instagram confirms more countries.

What is Instagram Features and where is it already running?

Features is a new area of Instagram where creators can upload horizontal videos of up to 90 minutes. According to 9to5Google, Mosseri and VP of product Tessa Lyons introduced it in a six-minute video. TechCrunch reports that it’s currently being tested in Brazil, with a small test announced for the US. The Instagram app for TV, which is due to carry Features content, is now available on Apple TV in the US, according to The National.

On top of that, Instagram is testing “Clips as Reels”, says TechCrunch. Creators use it to turn their long videos into Reels that link back to the original. Reels becomes the trailer, Features the main film.

None of the reports we’ve looked at gives a launch date for Austria or the EU. Mosseri himself is pumping the brakes. “It’s early, and we’re testing and listening to feedback as we go.”

Why is Instagram changing course now of all times?

Because the living room is the new screen, and that’s where YouTube is winning. According to Nielsen, YouTube hit a record 15.8% of US TV viewing in August 2026 (US data, published on 22 October 2026). Tessa Lyons explains the change of course to The National with data from the Instagram team showing interest in longer videos, and with the work on a TV version of Reels, which needs “more than just short-form video”.

Then there’s the money. YouTube partners get 55% of the ad revenue from their videos, according to TechCrunch. Instagram pays creators mainly through brand deals and a small performance-based programme, about which Mosseri admits “we spend more money than we make back by a long shot”. Here’s how we read it. If you want to keep creators, you need a format where their time pays off.

“Reels gets you reach, long video gets you trust. If you only plan for one of them, you’re giving away half the funnel.”

— Olivia Ulbing-Sommeregger, Founder oha! digital

Why has long video on Instagram failed so far?

The idea isn’t new. Instagram has tried this once before, with IGTV. According to Wikipedia, Kevin Systrom presented the format on 20 June 2018, initially as a separate app and with no landscape mode, which only arrived in May 2019. The results were sobering. By early 2020, according to Sensor Tower, at most 7 million of more than a billion Instagram users had downloaded the app, and Instagram took the IGTV button off the home screen again for lack of interest. That’s from TechCrunch. In October 2021 IGTV was folded into the main feed as “Instagram Video”, and by March 2022 the standalone app was history.

So what went wrong? The reports point to three reasons. First, IGTV was a place you had to go out of your way to visit. According to Later, it sat “off to the side”, away from Reels and DMs, the habits that really count on Instagram. Second, the format didn’t match the habit. People who watch long videos do so horizontally on YouTube or on the TV, and IGTV launched in portrait. Third, Reels pulled attention away, and people there watched short. The second and third points are our own reading, as the reports don’t explicitly back them up.

What’s supposed to be different this time?

The biggest difference is that Features no longer sits off to the side but hangs off Reels. According to TechCrunch, “Clips as Reels” lets creators turn their long videos into Reels that link to the full video. The format is horizontal and up to 90 minutes long, it lives in the main app, and users can send videos to the Instagram TV app to watch. That app is already on Fire TV, Google TV and Samsung TVs, according to Later, and now on Apple TV too. The idea is to keep viewers on Instagram instead of letting them wander off to YouTube, a podcast or Substack for the main film.

The attitude has changed too. Mosseri tells TechCrunch he was against long video for a long time because short content brings more shares and DMs. Tessa Lyons, he says, convinced him to try again. That’s less a frontal attack on YouTube than an attempt to make Reels the way into longer content.

The money remains unresolved. Instagram hasn’t named a revenue model for Features, and Meta says it’s “too early” for that, according to TechCrunch. And it’s all still a test, in Brazil and with a small US group. In plain English, the conditions are better than with IGTV, but only usage will show whether it works this time.