At the same time Meta decided to finally shut down IGTV standalone app, TikTok announced that TikTok max video length increases to 10-minutes, and they are rolling out the stories feature. Now, you’ll be able to create TikToks that last almost as long as TedTalks! (we’ll show ourselves out.)
This is not the first time that TikTok video length gets a bit of a boost. TikTok max video length used to be 15 seconds, then it grew to a minute, then three. Today - ta-daaaah! 10-minute TikTok.
YouTube introduced shorts, Facebook also has the Reels options now, and TikTok allows long videos and stories. To some, it seems like all the video content platforms are merging into one.
Why Is This Happening?
There’s what TikTok said, what the world of social media marketers think, and the part about what the users think (the last one is a wide range of opinions).
Here’s an opinion:
Officially, TikTok said to TechCrunch that TikTok max video length was increased to allow creators to be even more creative and give them even more possibilities to express themselves.
Social media experts claim that this is about monetisation. While TikTok has the option of Creator Tips and Funds, it is difficult to build ads into short formats. With longer videos, TikTok would be able to expand their “real estate” for ads.
As for the users, like always, their opinions go from predicting doom and disaster to adoring the new feature.
What Does It Mean for You?
Remember when IG launched Reels? You may like it or you may hate it, but creators had to admit that being among the first to use Reels gave you more exposure. Even though Instagram says that each of its apps has its own algorithm, Reels were all the rage. There was a window in time when it seemed like Reels were getting a bit more algorithm juice in comparison to other posts.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? If a powerful app like TikTok wants to test a feature, they would want to get as many people as possible to use it. That’s the quickest way to check whether it will live or not. So, following that logic, if the TikTok max video length increases, you should test TikTok length options and see if you can get a piece of that cake.
Remember, TikTok max length means that you really need subtitles. Think about it - a couple of seconds of dancing - OK. Three minutes - eeeeerm..OK. 10 minutes with no words? Nope. You’re going to lose viewers.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - people love subtitles and captions! Don’t miss out. If you really want to give this TikTok length a fair chance, you definitely need TikTok captions.
How to Add Subtitles to TikTok Videos
TikTok captions can be done automatically. You know what that means, right? It means it will automatically caption your videos using AI. Again, when it’s a short clip, it can be OK, but you don’t want to risk bad TikTok captions in a 10-minute long video. A misspelled word here and there can happen in a short video and it will slide, but imagine that percentage in a long format. It will look bad.
So, don’t leave TikTok captions to chance and do your own before you even upload your video. What we’re saying is - use Subly.
- Make your video and upload it to Subly - or take a look how to download TikTok videos
- Subly automatically transcribes your video after you pick the language from our list
- Review the transcription for mistakes
- Style your TikTok captions any way you like
- Export your video with burnt-in TikTok captions in the ratio of your choice.
- Upload it to TikTok and see how it works out for you
What if people don’t like the new TikTok length and you think you’re better off with the old format? Your video is already uploaded to Subly. You don’t have to do it again. You just make video snippets out of it and download it in the format you like.
