Instagram Tests Long Video Without Creator Payouts

Instagram is expanding video formats while its payment model for those videos remains unsettled, leaving creators asking why they should supply longer content for free. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Adam Mosseri, who heads Instagram, announced Features on Monday, Oct. 26. The format is being tested by a small group of creators in the United States and Brazil. Features videos can run up to 90 minutes, against a 20-minute ceiling for Reels, and appear to favor landscape orientation. The company is positioning the format for its TV apps across multiple screens.

Creators voiced objections on Threads and Reddit within hours of the announcement. Sidney Raskind, who posts as Sidneyraz, wrote on Threads that it feels like Mosseri and Meta are "just making fun of us" by not allowing long-form monetization ads inside Features videos. Raskind wrote: "Y'all know how this works and you know how ad calls work and you know that long form creators need ad rev to survive but you're ask[ing] them all to upload long form content for free just to live on your platform. That's insane." Tech creator M. Brandon Lee wrote on Threads: "What's funny about Instagram adding long-form video and reels that link to the long form is the complete lack of any sort of monetization." Lee added: "I can't get ad share revenue. You want more but don't give more."

Mosseri addressed the criticism in a Threads post on Tuesday, Oct. 27, writing: "We understand the economics matter a ton, and are exploring multiple options to help long-form creators get paid." On a podcast with Samir Chaudry and Colin Rosenblum, he said adding pre-roll or mid-roll ads is "going to be problematic from a user experience perspective." He also said scaling the existing performance-based program does not make financial sense, because Meta spends more on it than it recoups. Mosseri outlined three ways creators earn money: "you can get paid by the platform directly, you can get paid by a fan, and you can get paid by a brand." He said: "Right now how it works on Instagram primarily is that you get paid by brands, some people get paid by fans."

Instagram offers limited monetization tools for Reels, but those tools do not pay creators per view the way YouTube does. Meta retired Facebook's ad revenue-sharing payout model for longer videos in 2024 and moved to a performance-based system. Google likewise uses YouTube videos for AI training, though YouTube pays its creators.

No payment schedule for Features has been announced. The test remains limited to creators in the U.S. and Brazil.