Short-grade video is the trend of the moment, and with attention spans reducing, and new date behaviors taking hold, especially among younger demographics, it seems like short-form interaction is here to stay, which is why every platform is now post-obit TikTok's lead into the next phase of video connexion.

Just effective monetization of short-form video is difficult.

Vine found this out the hard way – while Vine was hugely popular at one stage, and boot-started the careers of many now well-known stars, Vine's parent company Twitter could never work out how to generate significant revenue from Vine clips, considering y'all can't insert pre or mid-curlicue ads into such short content. That, eventually, saw its biggest stars moving on to greener pastures, which eventually also forced Vine to shut down.

TikTok is well-aware of this, and information technology's well-aware of the increased direct monetization potential on offer in other apps, which is a big office of why today TikTok has confirmed that all users will before long be able to upload 10 minute long videos in the app, a significant expansion on its current time limits.

TikTok 10 minute uploads

As you tin can see in this alert, posted by social media expert Matt Navarra, many TikTok users are now beingness notified of an expansion in their upload capacity.

TikTok has since confirmed the full roll-out of the option (to TechCrunch):

"We're always thinking most new means to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok feel. Last yr, we introduced longer videos, giving our customs more fourth dimension to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we're excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are upwards to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world."

That previous expansion in video length came last August, with users given the option to upload five minute long clips.

TikTok 5 minute clips

Originally, TikTok's fourth dimension limit per clip was xv seconds, before being extended to 60 seconds, then 3 minutes. Now, users will exist able to upload much longer clips, which could actually have a large bear on on how people consume content in the app, and in many means, it'south a risky bet for TikTok, which has built its audience, thus far, on the back of short, pithy memes and responses.

Will users really welcome 10 minute long videos in their 'For You' feed?

TikTok does, of course, also take longer live-streams which are displayed in the main feed, and those oasis't acquired any engagement issues thus far, while some creators have likewise been able to mail longer uploads for some time. Then it does have some insight as to the potential bear upon of longer uploads on audience behaviors, while the Chinese version of TikTok, 'Douyin', has enabled 15 infinitesimal uploads for all users since 2019.

So information technology's not going in blind hither, TikTok does have some understanding of how users are likely to answer, and how to best present longer clips in-stream. But it'll be interesting to encounter whether there is an impact on user behavior and interest, and whether TikTok can successfully extend user engagement in the app, which could pb to a much broader set of content and advertising options.

Which is the real push here. Once again, given the challenges in monetizing curt-course video content, information technology'due south seemed inevitable that TikTok would somewhen need to lean into longer class uploads in society to provide more than direct monetization potential for creators. YouTube, for example, is looking to use its TikTok-like 'Shorts' choice equally a supplementary content vehicle for its creators, and so that they tin can then drive more interest in their main content feed, where they tin make much more money from in-stream ads.

The potential for making real money from your uploads is far greater on YouTube, which brought in $28.eight billion in advert revenue last year, with around half of that going dorsum to creators. TikTok has its $500 meg creator fund, also as tipping and donations, but those options don't come up shut to facilitating similar earnings capacity in this respect.

And TikTok'southward already feeling the pressure. Last month, well-known video creator Hank Light-green posted a video in which he outlined how TikTok'south creator funding models are fundamentally flawed, and how, eventually, that'll probable lead to a creator defection, as they seek a bigger slice of the acquirement pie.

TikTok hasn't provided any public response to this, despite Green's video reaching nigh a million views and sparking new questions about its longevity.

Perhaps this, then, is TikTok's answer, giving creators the capacity to actually generate direct acquirement via longer clips, a directly monetization offering more than in line with what they'll see on YouTube.

Will that work?

Time will tell, but again, I'd have to see it to believe that TikTok users will actively and regularly engage with longer grade clips.

Perhaps they will, mayhap this is the start of the side by side phase for TikTok, and that volition exist the thing that propels it to the adjacent phase of growth, and the side by side billion users. But possibly not. Vine also tried expanding its video length, with no luck, and with TikTok also coming under scrutiny over the spread of misinformation in the app, particularly around the electric current Ukraine crisis, the expansion could too open up a range of new bug for the platform to deal with, on a calibration that it'south not had to address in the past.

Which is likely why it's taking a staged approach to the roll out – only longer videos are coming, and you'll before long see new trends starting to form around longer clips within the app. Whether y'all like information technology or not.