TikTok vs Instagram: Who will win the content battle?
TikTok have announced they’re going to let people upload ten-minute videos on their platform. A huge move for the platform which has incredibly high-performing short-form content. The addition of ten-minute videos definitely challenges the likes of YouTube. In the same breath, we’ve seen Instagram have announced that they’re going to be closing down IGTV, their long-form service which they launched in 2018, which never really took off, and they obviously feel like it’s an experiment that hasn’t worked.
Does this mean that TikTok are actually taking over? Is this a sign that we’re starting to see the death of Instagram and people won’t bother with focusing on Reels and TikToks, and only choose one?
Our Opinion
The addition of long-form content has come at a strange time from TikTok. With the attention span of the average social media user getting less and less, it’s a bold move. With the number of updates Instagram is introducing at the moment, expanding Reels, introducing a subscription feature to name a few, they’re definitely worried, and potentially just looking to cover themselves and cling on to their user-base.
It’s also worth considering if TikTok adding the 10-minute video length a stab at them trying to compete with platforms like YouTube? A platform that specialises in it. Although on their platform, you even have them hosting incredibly long videos and full-length feature films.
Really, it all comes down to the creators. When the app launched back in 2016 and then acquired music.ly in 2017, they focused hugely on the creators and brought on a large ambassador programme to create content and to help bring over their audience to the platform.
If they still have their ambassador program, it will be interesting to see what they will be doing with the creators. Will it be similar content to vlogs that we regularly see uploaded to YouTube?
It’s also interesting how they’re going to be mixing in the content. Are they going to have a different tab purely for long-form, or is it going to be mixed in with the vine style content that’s currently being uploaded? Even if they do keep it separate, what makes this different to what Instagram was doing with IGTV?
Whatever the future holds for long-form on TikTok. We definitely think it’s worth being an early adopter of the change, being a first mover in the space. 10 minutes is a long time for content but can be easily filled. For example, if you’re a music producer or artist, you could easily fill 10 minutes of space with a set or a few songs, this would also go hand-in-hand with what the platform is built on, music, it lends itself quite nicely to that market.
Conclusion
It’s still up in the air what creators will do, but as we’ve seen with TikTok previously, it’s very much user-first, so it’s all to be decided. As a brand, you should adapt early and just try it. Get on there, test the waters and see what it’s like.
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