I’ve never listened to a full episode of the Happy Wife Happy Life podcast, hosted by Jordan Myrick and Kendahl Landreth, but I’ve sure seen all the clips.
My Instagram Reels algorithm recently served me, along with 5 million other viewers, a brief rant from Myrick about feeling bamboozled by the health care system. Then, I spent the next hour scrolling through the show’s other snippets on Reels, loving the couple’s snarky banter. Still, I never followed the duo to a different platform to watch the full-length podcasts.
On Monday, Instagram announced plans that might have turned me into a regular listener of the show. Instagram will expand tests in the US that let creators upload long-form content up to 90 minutes and flip a video’s orientation to horizontal. Creators can also link their short clips directly back to full-length videos.
“Our belief here is that entertainment and creativity are not limited to a three-minute video,” Tessa Lyons, vice president of product at Instagram, tells WIRED. She wants to build the “best place for social entertainment” with this overhaul of Instagram video. The social media platform may soon feel like a streaming service, as more viewers watch longer videos on their big screen.
Instagram is also expanding its creator tools for turning Reels into episodic content. “We want to be able to say, ‘Wow, Reece loved episode 3. So, as soon as episode 4 drops, we've got to make sure to show it to him,’” Lyons says. This Reels feature, called “Series,” is already available for some creators in the app, and it's being tested for TV viewing as well.
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