Instagram Launches Long-Form Video: What It Means for Canadian Brands

Instagram has launched the rollout of Features, its new format for longer, horizontal videos. For Canadian brands, the announcement opens a new chapter in how they can think about storytelling on the platform.

On October 26, 2026, Adam Mosseri and Instagram’s vice president of product, Tessa Lyons, announced the move into long-form video. Initial access is limited to selected creators in the United States and Brazil, with Instagram describing this phase of the rollout as testing.

For Canadian teams, the next milestone is local availability. No Canadian launch date was found in the rollout information reviewed on November 11, 2026.

What Instagram announced

Features supports horizontal videos of up to 90 minutes in the initial rollout. Selected creators can also link short Reels to a longer video, giving viewers a way to continue watching within Instagram. The Publish Press’s announcement coverage describes how the two formats work together.

The 90-minute ceiling describes the format’s initial capacity, rather than a recommended duration for brands.

The connection between formats is what matters: a short clip can introduce a person, a question or a conflict. The full episode gives interested viewers somewhere to follow that story.

Instagram is also expanding its TV app, already available on supported devices in the U.S., with longer creator videos and episodic series part of its plans. That points to an ambition beyond the phone feed: becoming a destination for a full viewing session, competing for the living-room attention that YouTube and Netflix already command. For brands, that could mean their own recurring shows reaching the big screen.

A longer story for the audience already there

Our clients have invested heavily in short-form Instagram content. With Dreww, they have funded the strategy, creative development and production needed to build their presence, learn what audiences respond to and develop communities around their brands.

For those clients, trying longer-form content no longer has to mean launching and funding a YouTube channel alongside their Instagram program. As access expands, Instagram’s long-form rollout offers a way to experiment within the platform they have already invested in, with the audience knowledge, communities and production routines they have built.

That existing foundation is valuable. It does not guarantee distribution. Each episode still needs to earn people’s attention, including the attention of viewers who have never followed the brand.

More time can build a stronger connection

What excites me about longer-form content is the time people spend with the people in the videos. Across complete episodes, viewers have more room to get to know someone’s personality, perspective and way of thinking. The relationship can become much deeper than a passing impression in the feed.

That is the potential of a parasocial relationship: a viewer develops a sense of familiarity with someone on screen, even though they have never met. More sustained viewing can create more opportunities for that connection to develop. The content still has to earn that time.

A longer video may attract fewer views than a Reel. I would still see it as a valuable addition to the mix if those viewers stay longer, return for another episode and build a stronger connection with the people representing the brand. The quality of that attention matters alongside the size of the audience. Short-form content can introduce people to the brand; longer-form content can give interested viewers a reason to spend more time with it.

Think in episodes, with Reels planned from the start

For Raphaël Smith at Dreww, the creative opportunity begins before filming. His view is that teams should write two connected layers: a complete story with characters, stakes and a payoff, and short moments that make someone want to see the rest.

Raph also points to the production implications: planning horizontal video and vertical excerpts together, building a sustained narrative, and allowing more room for pacing. In his view, the relationship between the full episode and its Reels needs to be considered from the script stage.

That requires additional production time and budget, alongside the creative opportunity.

More time only helps if the story deserves it

Mylène Bélanger at Dreww sees the opportunity in the relationship a brand can build over time. A longer episode offers space to develop people, a recognizable world and shared references that a few seconds of content cannot always carry.

In her view, the appeal goes beyond video length. Amid digital fatigue and the growing volume of AI-generated content, a visible human perspective, creative craft and an identifiable voice can give people a reason to care.

Her point is practical: viewers still expect to be entertained, engaged or rewarded for their time. Strong narration, deliberate pacing and a thoughtful production approach become more important as the commitment grows.

It also changes the calendar. Adding longer episodes without adjusting the team’s workload or resources can make an existing publishing cadence difficult to sustain. A useful pilot should test what the audience wants and what the team can realistically repeat.

What remains to be seen

The rollout leaves questions about broader availability, distribution and creator economics. Canadian brands should keep native Features publishing conditional on actual account access.

From my perspective, the opportunity is to build on what our clients have already paid to create. Long-form video could deepen those existing Instagram programs without making a new YouTube channel a prerequisite for trying it.

That is why I see this announcement as significant for our clients. A smaller audience spending more meaningful time with the brand could be an excellent addition to the content mix. Canadian publishing access will determine when we can put that opportunity into practice on Instagram.

Rollout context: Mosseri and Lyons’s announcement, The Publish Press and Social Media Today. Availability last validated November 11, 2026. Hero photograph: Jesse Leon, from The Colin and Samir Show, via The Publish Press.