YouTube has remained relatively unchallenged in the long-form video space. There’s been a few attempts from other platforms (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) to challenge YouTube, most of which haven’t been able to pose a significant threat. TikTok, however, might be the platform to challenge YouTube.
This week, TikTok announced that it is expanding its video time limit cap from 60-seconds to three minutes — a move that has the platform inching its way onto YouTube’s turf: long-form video.
Why is TikTok raising its time cap?
According to TikTok, it has been looking for a lot of feedback from its creator community. The consensus appears to be that creators want more time to do more creative, insightful content. It’s a challenge for creators to cut down content like cooking or makeup tutorials into 60-seconds. Raising the time limit cap to three minutes will create more wiggle room for creators during filming.
As TechCrunch points out, many TikTok creators were already creating longer videos. They just had to cut them up into parts, making it into a video series. While this worked, it could get tedious for viewers to locate all the parts to complete the series.
Taking on YouTube
TikTok’s venture into longer-form video could eventually position TikTok as a major competitor to YouTube. However, it’s not going to happen overnight. YouTube has been the go-to platform for this kind of content for over a decade. Also, with its ties to Google, YouTube isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
At the same time, TikTok has proven time and again it’s not to be underestimated. At its launch, many believed the platform would eventually fizzle in popularity, yet it’s now one of the most competitive video platforms around. It easily bests every platform in the short-form video space (including YouTube Shorts). While it will be a challenging, uphill battle to challenge YouTube in the long-form format, TikTok has a track record of proving everyone wrong.
Image courtesy: TikTok