TikTok takes on YouTube with horizontal videos and longer runtimes

TikTok is best-known for vertical videos and bite-sized content, but it’s changing its course. According to some creators, the app is now nudging them towards posting horizontal videos. And they’re not just horizontal, but also longer, exceeding the one-minute mark.

Creators @candicedchap and @kenlyealtumbiz first noticed the change, according to The Verge. According to them, TikTok has offered an incentive, promising to “boost” longer horizontal videos within 72 hours of posting. This viewership boost is available to creators who have been active on TikTok for over three months. The only requirement is that these videos aren’t ads or created by political parties. Some users have already posted about it, sharing tips on uploading these horizontal videos:

@kenlyealtumbiz

DIRECTIONS 👇🏻 Horizontal Videos on TikTok 1. Film video on your phone’s camera, or wherever you always film in Landscape mode (turn your phone sideways) 2. Upload video into CapCut App (it’s free) 3. Look at the menu bar at the bottom and change the “aspect ratio” to 16:9 4. Click the video and highlight it (under actual video next to “mute” & “cover”) 5. At very bottom menu scroll until you see “transform” and then rotate until you’re right side up 6: ADD VIDEO CAPTIONS IN CAPCUT. You CANNOT add video captions or edit in TikTok, it will mess this all up, idk why, that’s on TikTok. 7. Hit the arrow at the top right to export your video 8. Upload into TikTok (you can write out a caption like this one and use hashtags, just NOT in the actual video) #horizontalvideo #horizontal #fullscreenstatus #fullscreen #tiktoktips #horizontalvideos @Ken 🖤 | Business Coach 📲

♬ original sound – Ken 🖤 | Business Coach 📲

It’s worth noting that this isn’t TikTok’s first foray into longer content. The platform has been gradually increasing its maximum video length, recently testing videos as long as 30 minutes. This expansion seems to be a nod towards YouTube’s successful model, where longer videos dominate, primarily for monetization purposes. There was also a mention of horizontal videos around a year ago.

And to add another layer to its strategy, TikTok introduced the “Series” program. This feature allows creators to compile video collections, each up to 20 minutes long, available to paying subscribers. Prices for these series can range from $1 to $190, offering a new revenue stream to creators besides ad revenue and paid promo videos.

Implications for content creators

This strategic shift could lead creators to repurpose their YouTube content for TikTok, a practice already common across social media platforms. While YouTube, especially YouTube Shorts, continues to be more lucrative for creators, TikTok’s new approach might blur the lines between the two platforms further.

Interestingly, while TikTok is trying to mimic YouTube, YouTube has been adding features to mimic TikTok. They introduced Shorts in 2021: the short-form, vertical video style greatly resembling TikTok. In the meantime, Instagram has been trying to imitate everything, from TikTok to the “anti-Instagram app” BeReal. Where one platform ends and the other begins, I don’t know anymore. It’s getting difficult to tell.

As TikTok’s horizontal video feature unfolds, the company itself has remained silent on the subject. The lack of official comment from the platform has left room for speculation and discussion, and we’ll update the article if we hear anything new.

[via The Verge]

---