Instagram is reportedly offering selected YouTube creators between $50,000 and $500,000 to publish long-form videos on its new Features format, with some deals reaching six figures, according to Business Insider reporting echoed by pttl.gr and K24 Digital.

Meta confirmed it is directly funding Features content from certain creators — a spokesperson said, "We've been public about the fact that we are funding Features content directly with some creators right now to support them" — but did not verify the amounts or the terms of individual agreements.

The deals appear to be nonexclusive: creators are asked to post to Features the same day they upload to YouTube, keeping their established channels intact.

The reversal is striking. As ClickZ recounts, Instagram head Adam Mosseri had long opposed long-form video because watching 10, 20 or 30 minutes means fewer Reels, photos and carousels shared between friends.

The company shut down its IGTV app in 2022, and K24 Digital notes the new Features product effectively revives the idea behind IGTV, which launched in 2018 before being retired.

Now the same platform is paying up to half a million dollars — roughly Ksh65 million — to import YouTube's catalogue of podcasts, interviews and vlogs into a 90-minute horizontal video format.

According to ClickZ, Mosseri and VP of Product Tessa Lyons announced the Features test on October 26 for select creators in the United States and Brazil, covering horizontal videos up to 90 minutes.

Lyons said creators already post clips from longer videos to drive discovery, and Features turns that habit into a product: the short clip stays shareable while the full video serves viewers who want to stay.

pttl.gr adds that Instagram is testing links from as many as eight Reels to a single production, and that the announcement points to Apple TV and phone-as-remote playback through Instagram for TV.

ClickZ frames the open question plainly: whether creators keep making 90-minute videos for Instagram without a payout built into the platform will decide how far the bet goes.

Instagram has announced no ad revenue share for Features, while YouTube maintains its Partner Program that lets eligible creators share in advertising revenue.

K24 Digital notes Meta has used incentives before — paying creators thousands for short-form videos last year and funding IGTV shows with a brief ad revenue share in 2021 — but this round of payments is going only to selected creators, raising questions about how ordinary creators benefit.

Underscore Talent co-CEO Reza Izad told K24 the opportunity is exciting because new features often get extra visibility.

The bet's design choice — Reels lead viewers into the long video — is the mechanism ClickZ says lets Instagram add long-form while keeping its focus on connecting friends.

For brands, ClickZ writes, long-form creator video now has a second home to plan around: a clip and its full video become one asset across Reels and Features, and results from the two surfaces will need reading together.

Whether creators commit without a platform-level payout is the question the format now has to answer.

pttl.gr reports there is still no general revenue-sharing program or Features rollout in Greece, and no public application program for these payments has been announced — Features remains in limited testing.

It also remains unknown whether the largest offers cover one video, a period of collaboration or an entire agreement, so the $500,000 figure should not be read as a standard per-video fee.

For creators considering a strategy change, PTTL argues the contract details — length, licensing rights, posting obligations and payment calculation — will matter more than the headline number, and that Instagram still needs a system that does not depend on private invitations.