Instagram now tests 90-minute videos. Your Reels can link to the full episode.

• Instagram is building YouTube's best trick into Instagram: the short clip that sends you to the full episode. If you make podcasts, interviews or long videos, your Reels now have a second job.
• Below: what launched, how the funnel works, and what to do with it this quarter.

WHAT INSTAGRAM LAUNCHED

The Hollywood Reporter reported the details on 26 October. Instagram is testing a product called Features: horizontal videos of up to 90 minutes, starting with select creators in the US. It is aimed at podcasters, comedians and other long-form creators.

For comparison, Reels are typically three minutes or less. Instagram had already tested Features with creators in Brazil, and it plans to expand to tens of thousands of creators in the US.

HOW THE CLIP-TO-SHOW FUNNEL WORKS

The key part is the link. Creators can connect a Reel to its full Feature. Tessa Lyons, Instagram's VP of product, described it like this: "you see a clip of a podcast that you love, you can just click and continue watching or watch the full video."

A funnel here simply means the path from first glance to full attention. Until now, a great podcast clip on Instagram sent people to YouTube or Spotify to watch the rest. With Features, the rest lives one tap away, inside the same app. Features will also be recommended on Explore and in other places, so a long video can find new viewers on its own.

WHO IS IN THE TEST, AND THE MONEY QUESTION

Early creators include podcast host and Skims co-founder Emma Grede, beauty and fashion creator Monet McMichael, Preston Rakovsky, who interviews New Yorkers about love and relationships, and football creator Donald De La Haye.

There is no exclusivity, so creators can post the same show elsewhere, and existing ad deals carry over into the videos. The obvious gap is money: YouTube offers qualified creators 55% of ad revenue. Lyons said Instagram is working on "a few different deals" with the early creators.

WHY EVERY PLATFORM WANTS LONG VIDEO

Netflix, Disney and others have been adding podcasts and creator videos to compete for viewing hours with YouTube. More minutes watched means more room for ads, sponsor reads and product moments. A 40-minute show can carry an integration that feels like part of the show. A 15-second clip cannot.

WHAT TO DO WITH IT THIS QUARTER

Worked example: say you run a monthly 45-minute founder interview that lives on YouTube. Cut five Reels from it, each 30 to 60 seconds, each ending on a question the full episode answers ("and that's when the supplier pulled out"). When Features opens to you, link all five to the full episode. Now measure two things: how many people tap from each clip to the full video, and how long they watch. Keep the clip style that sends the most people through, and cut the next episode that way.

THE PUNKD TAKE

Brands spent years being told nobody watches anything longer than a few seconds. Then the company that made Reels built a 90-minute player. People never hated long. They hated boring.

This test rewards brands that have something worth watching for 40 minutes: a founder who can talk, customers with stories, a format with a hook. If all you have is a 15-second product spin, Features is not for you. Build the show first.

STEAL THIS

1. Cut every long video into clips that end on an open question, so the tap to the full episode has a reason.
2. If you sponsor podcasts, ask creators in the test about reads inside their Features.
3. Turn your best webinar or founder interview into one 20 to 40 minute horizontal video.
4. Track taps from clip to full video and watch time, not just Reel views.
5. Keep your YouTube version: there is no exclusivity, so post in both places.

Would anyone watch 40 minutes of your brand?