Instagram Features: what long, widescreen video means for your brand

In late October 2026 Instagram started testing a format called Features: horizontal videos that can run for up to 90 minutes. It's a clear change for an app that has spent years pushing short, vertical video. The Verge's report on the announcement covers the video in which Instagram head Adam Mosseri and VP of product Tessa Lyons explain the thinking.

Most small brands won't be able to post a Feature yet. But how Instagram has designed it tells you a lot about where video on the app is heading, and there are things worth doing now so you're ready if it reaches you.

What Instagram has actually announced

Several related tests were announced together. In plain terms:

• Features are long, widescreen videos (landscape, the shape of a TV or a YouTube video) of up to 90 minutes. Variety reports that this is one of several length limits being tried, so the final cap may differ.
• Clips as Reels lets the creator cut short excerpts from a Feature and post them as Reels that link back to the full video. Reports say up to eight clips can point to one Feature.
• Where Features appear: in the main feed and on Explore, and in Instagram's TV app, which now runs on Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TVs and Apple TV. Viewers can send a long video from their phone to watch on the TV later.
• Series is a separate test: a hub on a profile that groups episodic Reels into one collection, a bit like a playlist.

Features were tested first in Brazil and are now in a small US test. Engadget reports that, for now, only creators who have struck individual deals with Meta can post them, and the early focus is podcasters, comedians and interviewers. There's no public sign-up and no confirmed date for a wider rollout, including in the UK and Europe.

Why the change of heart? Mosseri says he resisted long video for years because Instagram cares about people sending posts to friends, commenting and sharing, not only about watch time. The answer Instagram has landed on is to make short and long video work together: the Reels act as trailers, and the full video sits one tap away.

It's worth remembering that Instagram tried long video before with IGTV in 2018, in a vertical format, and later wound it down. Test formats change, get renamed or disappear.

How Features differ from Reels

	Reels	Features
Shape	Vertical, full screen on a phone	Horizontal, widescreen
Length	Short	Up to 90 minutes in the current test
How people find it	Reels tab, feed, Explore, shares	Mostly via linked Reels, plus feed and Explore
Main job	Reach new people, get shared	Hold people who are already interested
Where it's watched	Mostly phones	Phones and the TV app
Who can post	Everyone	Selected creators only, for now

The other big difference is money. Instagram isn't sharing ad revenue from Features with creators, which is how YouTube pays its partners. Meta told TechCrunch it is "too early to share a long-term monetization model" and that it is exploring ways for creators to earn from brands, fans and Instagram itself.

For a brand, that matters less directly. You aren't relying on ad revenue from your videos; you want attention, trust and enquiries. It does matter if you work with creators. Many will keep their long videos on YouTube while it pays better, and since brand deals are one of the routes Meta points to, expect creators to start pitching sponsored Features once they have access.

Should you repurpose YouTube or webinar footage?

Separate two questions: whether to post the long video, and whether to cut clips from it. The second you can do today, with no special access, and it's the part Instagram is building everything around.

When Features do reach you, these usually make good long videos:

• podcast episodes and interviews, especially with guests your audience knows
• recorded talks, panels and workshops with a clear topic
• tutorials and how-to sessions that people would save
• behind-the-scenes films about how you make things or run the business

These usually don't:

• webinars full of slides, sound checks and housekeeping
• sales demos aimed at one prospect
• anything that depends on reading small text or clicking a link on screen
• footage with licensed music, client material or guests who only agreed to a private session

Before posting anything, ask:

1. Would someone choose to watch this if they hadn't been in the room?
2. Does it still make sense when the slides are too small to read on a phone?
3. Do you have permission from everyone in it, and the rights to any music or footage?
4. Can you get several strong short clips out of it? If not, it won't be found, because the Reels do the discovery.

Treat YouTube as the main home for your long videos. It has search, videos keep finding viewers for years, and it pays creators. A Feature would be an extra way to show the same material to people who already follow you on Instagram, not a replacement.

How to get ready now

1. Gather your long footage. List recordings you already have, what each is about, and who appears in it. Note anything you can't reuse.
2. Film widescreen with vertical in mind. Keep faces and products near the centre of the frame so you can crop to vertical for Reels without cutting anyone off. Make on-screen text large.
3. Get the sound right and add captions. Poor audio loses viewers faster than poor video.
4. Practise clipping. Post Reels cut from your long videos now, with a caption pointing to the full version on YouTube or your site. Watch which clips get sent, saved and commented on; those show which long videos are worth posting as Features later.
5. Think in series. If you make recurring content, give it a name and a consistent format. Both the Series test and Features reward episodes over one-offs.
6. Watch official channels. Trust Instagram's own announcements over "how to unlock Features" tips.

If you send people from a clip's caption to the full video elsewhere, give each network its own tracked link so you can see where clicks really came from. In Syndera, every channel gets its own go.syndera.app short link tagged with UTM parameters, and clicks are counted per network without cookies. You can see how it fits together here.

What can go wrong, and what to check

• The format changes under you. Length limits, names and placements are all still being tested. Don't rebuild your content plan around a feature you can't use yet.
• Long videos can crowd out the rest. This is Instagram's own worry. If you get access, check your insights to see whether Reels and posts reach fewer people in the weeks you publish Features.
• Widescreen looks small on a phone held upright. The thumbnail and the opening seconds have to work at that size, or people scroll on.
• Viewers stay inside Instagram. A linked clip sends people to the Feature, not to your website. If your goal is enquiries or sales, say what to do next in the video itself and in the caption.
• Rights and consent. Recording someone for a webinar doesn't mean they agreed to appear in public on Instagram or on a TV screen. Ask first.
• Creator contracts. If you sponsor creators, spell out which formats and platforms are included, and whether you can reuse their clips.

A short checklist to keep:

• Is Features available to your account yet, or only reported in the news?
• Do your best long videos already have clips that perform well as Reels?
• Can each clip be understood without sound and without the full video?
• Are permissions and music rights sorted for anything you'd post?
• Are you measuring clicks and enquiries, not just views?

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Source: The Verge: Instagram