Instagram extends Reels duration to 90 seconds

Instagram users can now create up to 90-seconds long Reels and create videos in the vertical short-form template, by using multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools.

Instagram had been testing the ability to create Reels up to 90 seconds long since the beginning of the year. India was the fourth country, where Reels had been rolled out after Brazil, Germany, and France, and the platform has been steadily increasing the duration from 15 seconds to 30, 60, and now 90.

Attributable to the format and push by the platform, Reels as a content type has been performing well in India, and the extended duration would mean augmented creative capabilities. On the contrary, consumption behaviour on Reels is inclined towards a shorter duration, and the longer format may go against that, leading the consumers to skip the Reel.

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The entertainment experience has also been adding monetizing and shopping capabilities to make the most of the growing engagement on the platform. The platform added the capability to feature products with shoppable tags through which users would be redirected to the shopping tab, find the product info and continue the purchase.

The feature is a fusion of shopping and Reels, the two features that Instagram has been pushing with several updates, such as two dedicated tabs for Reels and Shop (individually) that led to the change in the UI of Instagram.

The platform had also rolled out Reels ads to embrace Reels to discover new creators and businesses. This discovery mindset of consumers is tapped to make Reels tab a natural place for businesses to express themselves creatively through the format. The ads will be full-screen and immersive, similar to ads in Stories. As with organic Reels content, ads can be up to 30 seconds and people can comment, like, view, save, share and skip Reels ads.