Instagram Offers YouTube Creators Up to $500,000 to Join New Long-Form Video Platform

Instagram is trying to lure YouTubers to join its new long-form video platform, reportedly offering some creators up to $500,000.

On Monday, Instagram announced Features, a new long-form, widescreen video format that allows creators to share videos up to 90 minutes long. After years of heavily pursuing TikTok’s short-form video model, Instagram made it clear that it’s now setting its sights on YouTube.

Now, according to a report by Business Insider, Instagram is courting YouTube creators for its new long-form video format. Instagram has offered some YouTube creators $50,000 to post videos to its new “Features” video format, while others received offers up to $500,000.

“We’ve been public about the fact that we are funding Features content directly with some creators right now to support them,” a Meta spokesperson tells Business Insider. “The details of those deals are confidential, but we’re excited to see the content going live.”

Features is aimed at podcasters, comedians and other longform creators, with the ability to refer viewers to the full video from the shortform reels on Instagram, which are typically around three minutes or less.

“What you’re now going to be able to do is, you see a clip of a podcast that you love, you can just click and continue watching or watch the full video, and you’ll be able to dive in and see the whole thing because creators are going to be able to link these Reels to their overall feature,” Tessa Lyons, VP of product at Instagram, says.

This is not the first time Meta has offered creators financial incentives to bring their content to Instagram. Last year, Meta was reportedly offering popular TikTok creators deals up to $300,000 to post Reels on Instagram. Leaked contracts showed that Meta was paying select TikTok creators — who have over one million followers on the platform — up to $50,000 per month to post exclusive content to Instagram Reels. The contracts span six months and require them to post up to 10 Reels exclusively on Instagram per month.

The payouts ranged from $50,000 per month for six months, for a total of $300,000 at the higher end, to $2,500 per month over six months, for a total of $15,000 at the lower end.