Instagram offers creators up to $500,000 to post long video

Instagram has offered select creators between $50,000 and $500,000 to post long-form video to Features, the horizontal format it opened on October 26, according to a Business Insider report published October 29, 2026.

The report, by Sydney Bradley and Lucia Moses, puts the floor of the offers at $50,000, says several creators received six-figure offers, and says the largest reach $500,000. Meta confirmed the funding without confirming the amounts. "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 told Business Insider. "The details of those deals are confidential, but we're excited to see the content going live."

The terms are not exclusive to Instagram. People familiar with the agreements told Business Insider that the deals do not require creators to stop posting on YouTube, and one person said Instagram is asking creators to publish their long-form videos on Instagram the same day they go up on YouTube. Netinfluencer's write-up notes, citing Tubefilter, that the reporting does not say whether the money is per video, per month or a one-time fee, so the figures cannot be turned into a per-video rate.

Features lets a creator upload horizontal video up to 90 minutes long, watched inside the Instagram app and on television apps. Creators can link up to eight short Reels to a single full video, Instagram said in its launch release, and Instagram is testing a companion feature called Clips as Reels. The format started with creators in Brazil and is now in a small United States test. It is the second time Instagram has tried long-form video, after IGTV, which launched in 2018, funded shows for creators in 2021, and was shut down in 2022.

The money question is unresolved for everyone outside the funded group. YouTube pays creators enrolled in its Partner Program 55% of the ad revenue their videos earn, and the platform says it paid more than $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies over four years. Instagram has announced nothing comparable. Instagram head Adam Mosseri told the Colin and Samir Show on October 26 that its existing performance payments to video creators are "ROI negative" and that scaling them would mean "burning capital," while saying Instagram would keep making bespoke deals to bootstrap the ecosystem. He posted on X that Instagram is "exploring multiple options to help long-form creators get paid."

Reza Izad, a partner at the talent firm Underscore Talent, told Business Insider the deals are "an exciting opportunity" for creators, and said new formats tend to get algorithmic preference. Instagram has not said publicly whether funded Features get extra distribution.

For anyone making video, the short version is that the platform is buying supply before it publishes a price list. A creator who is not offered a deal is posting long-form video to Instagram on the same terms as before: reach, no per-view payment, and the hope that a direct deal eventually covers them.

Instagram has not said when Features will open beyond the Brazil and United States test, or what creators outside the funded group will earn.