TikTok trains its gun on YouTube, plans to go after video platform as it tests 30-minute uploads

It seems that ByteDance-owned TikTok is set to challenge YouTube for its dominant position as the world’s largest video-based platform. In what seems to be a departure from TikTok’s current modus operandi, short-form videos, the app was seen allowing users to upload longer videos, of up to 30 minutes, as per a report by TechCrunch. The potential shift away from its traditional short-form video format, which initially propelled TikTok to fame, has been observed by social media consultant Matt Navarra in the iOS beta version of the app in the UK. There are also reports of users seeing this option in the Android beta version. This move follows TikTok’s trend of gradually embracing long-form content. Starting with a 15-second time limit, the platform expanded it successively to one minute, three minutes, and 10 minutes. The testing phase for a 15-minute video upload limit occurred a few months ago. This 30 minutes is likely the upper limit, based on Douyin, the Chinese version of the app. Douyin, which is TikTok in China, expanded its upload limit to 30 minutes per clip in 2022, and it hasn’t gone any further as yet. Douyin has also seen good response to this longer time limit, which is why TikTok is now looking to implement the same, though it does seem like a long time to be watching a TikTok clip in-stream. If the 30-minute upload limit becomes widely available, TikTok will have transformed significantly from its original short-form focus. The expansion suggests TikTok’s intention to attract creators accustomed to posting longer content on YouTube. Historically, TikTok was associated with short-form content, while YouTube was considered the go-to platform for long-form videos. However, recent years have witnessed a blurring of lines between the two, with TikTok embracing longer videos and YouTube introducing shorter content through features like Shorts. This latest expansion not only gives creators more time and flexibility for content like cooking recipes, beauty tutorials, educational material, and comedy sketches but also opens the door for a new type of content — full episodes of TV shows. TikTok’s move into the 30-minute video space intensifies its competition with YouTube and reflects the platform’s evolving strategy to cater to a wider range of content creators and viewer preferences.