TikTok is trialing 30-minute long video uploads for some users in the beta version of its app.
Why we care. Longer videos may provide more opportunities to place ads in the middle of clips, known as mid-roll ads. These mid-roll ads often lead to higher completion and engagement rates.
First look. The new upload option was first spotted by social media consultant, Matt Navarra. He shared a screenshot of the TikTok pop-up notification on his Threads account:
Why now? TikTok’s choice to allow longer video uploads follows Douyin’s move, the Chinese version of TikTok, which extended its upload limit to 30 minutes per clip in 2022 and received a positive response.
Time line. TikTok has regularly increased the maximum duration allowed for each post over the years:
- 15 seconds per clips in 2018.
- 60 seconds per clip in 2019.
- 3 minutes per clip in 2020.
- 5 minutes per clips in 2021.
- 10 minutes per clips in 2022.
- 15 minutes per clip in 2023.
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Deep dive. Read our report on how non-skippable video ads may harm engagement for more information.
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About the author
Nicola Agius is Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land after joining in 2023. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media and more. Prior to this, she was SEO Director at Jungle Creations (2020-2023), overseeing the company’s editorial strategy for multiple websites. She has over 15 years of experience in journalism and has previously worked at OK! Magazine (2010-2014), Mail Online (2014-2015), Mirror (2015-2017), Digital Spy (2017-2018) and The Sun (2018-2020). She also previously teamed up with SEO agency Blue Array to co-author Amazon bestselling book Mastering In-House SEO.
