TikTok Increases Video Length to 10 Minutes

TikTok is starting to roll out a new update that allows people to create videos up to 10 minutes long as the company slowly increases the limit.

Twitter users have been sharing screenshots of a notice they received stating this new feature is now active. No formal announcement has been made, but according to Chris Stokel-Walker, author of the book "Tiktok Boom: China's Dynamite App and the Superpower Race for Social Media," a TikTok spokesperson confirmed the feature will be a global release.

Launched initially with 15-second videos, TikTok has been working its way to increase the video length on its platform. The most significant jump occurred in July 2021 when three minutes videos were introduced, and only a few months later, that limit was increased to five minutes.

Initial reactions to the extended length are mixed. Some Twitter users seem okay with 10 minutes videos, while others seem pretty against the whole idea. After all, TikTok was created to host bite-sized videos that people can quickly scroll, which has proven immensely successful.

So much so that other platforms like YouTube have implemented their own versions of TikTok. Some people have speculated that increasing video length is a strategy to encroach on YouTube's turf as a dominant video platform. Like its rival, TikTok has produced several highly successful TikTok creators.

To support creators, TikTok created the Creator Fund as a way for people to begin making money on the platform but has been criticized for not paying its users very much.

According to the TikTok spokesperson, the platform hopes the longer format results in "more creative possibilities" from its creators.