Instagram Could Embrace Long-Form Video, Premium Content to Compete With TikTok, Says Adam Mosseri

Instagram may leverage deeper investments in long-form videos and premium content in the coming years. In an interview, platform head Adam Mosseri outlined the Meta-owned social media platform's direction for the future. In recent years, Instagram has prioritised focusing on short-form content over long videos, as part of its “core identity” of connecting people with friends, while also helping them explore their interests.

However, with platforms like ByteDance's TikTok and YouTube Shorts potentially reshaping how people watch and create content, the company is said to be actively exploring whether long-form video may eventually be necessary for future growth.

Instagram's Future Outlined

Instagram has leaned heavily into short-form content in recent years, owing to the popularity of Reels as its core form of engagement. In a recent conversation with Semafor, however, Mosseri admitted that the platform's stance of avoiding competition with long-form platforms like YouTube might change.

“It might turn out that maybe we'll need premium content to work… It might be that we need long-form video,” he told Semafor.

That potential shift ties into another idea Mosseri touched on, which is delivering premium content experiences to its users. Till now, Instagram's model has relied on short-form discovery and its algorithmic feed. However, adopting subscription-based models or creator-paid content could open new revenue streams and deepen engagement.

But even if this happens, Instagram's strategy will be different from other long-form platforms, like YouTube. As per Mosseri, the Google-owned platform encourages creators to produce long, high-production-value videos, but the same does not work on the platform due to constant variety.

Instagram, however, is still exploring how the social media platform could evolve beyond smartphones, as evident by the recent rollout of the Instagram TV app for Fire TV devices. It lets users watch and share Reels on bigger screens, increasing integration with living-room devices.

Looking even further ahead, Mosseri discussed a future where smart glasses and other wearable tech take centre stage. He predicted that this could materialise as soon as within a decade, with smart glasses replacing phones and altering the way people use Instagram, leveraging mixed reality or hands-free experiences.

“For a visual platform, [being] in a medium where you probably want most of your interactions with your smart glasses to be audio-only is a much bigger, more open question that we need to think about,” Mosseri said, underscoring the impact of the developing hardware on Instagram's capabilities and interface.