TikTok takes on YouTube, tests 30-minute video uploads

New Delhi: Chinese short-video making platform TikTok is apparently testing to help users upload 30-minute videos in a bid to take on Google-owned YouTube.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra first spotted the new option in the iOS beta version of the app.

“It’s happening. TikTok is testing 30 minute long video uploads!,” he posted on Meta’s Threads.

“TikTok is coming for your long form YouTube videos. Will Instagram Reels join the race and add longer video uploads? I spotted this in the TikTok beta app. Also spotted by a few others,” he posted.

TikTok has yet to comment on the latest test.

The company started with the original video time limit of 15 seconds, then moved to a minute, expanded it to three minutes and then 10 minutes.

TikTok began testing a 15-minute video upload limit a few months ago.

The new 30-minute video limit would open new opportunities for the Chinese app.

ByteDance’s TikTok has become the first app to surpass $10 billion in cumulative consumer spending, according to the latest report by data.ai.

In just three years, the share of US adults who say they regularly get news from Chinese short-form video platform TikTok more than quadrupled -- from 3 per cent in 2020 to 14 per cent in 2023.

A growing share of US adults say they regularly get news on TikTok.

This is in contrast with many other social media sites, where news consumption has either declined or stayed about the same in recent years, according to a latest poll from Pew Research.

Among adults, those ages 18 to 29 are most likely to say they regularly get news on TikTok.