When ByteDance launched TikTok in the U.S. in 2018, videos on the app were just 15 seconds long, or about twice the length of popular looping videos on Vine, the short-form video app Twitter shut down in 2016. As our latest chart shows, TikTok videos have been steadily increasing ever since. This week TikTok said users could upload videos as long as 10 minutes, representing a forty-fold increase in just four years. The new limit brings TikTok closer to the average YouTube video duration of 12 minutes, according to Pew Research Center (YouTube does not disclose this figure.)
TikTok says it increased the limit to expand “creative possibilities” for creators. That’s believable: some TikTokers have told us it will help them try new formats or launch series.
