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It's Friday and BeReal has a new rival. Meet BeFake: the AI-driven social networking app that just scored $3 million in seed funding.

SEE YOU IN TEN

Instagram is testing out a much longer time limit for Reels

Instagram has found yet another way to copy TikTok. According to Alessandro Paluzzi—a self-proclaimed “leaker” known for finding details about upcoming tech products—Instagram is “working on the ability to create Reels up to 10 minutes long.” The platform itself has now confirmed that theory to TechCrunch, noting that it is “internally testing” longer Reels.

That change would more than triple Reels’ current time limit.

The max video length on Instagram Reels is currently three minutes. By upping that number to 10, Reels might have a real shot (no pun intended) at keeping up with TikTok. The Bytedance-owned app raised its max video length from three minutes to ten minutes last year, and has since seen some major benefits. The app has reportedly surpassed YouTube in terms of watch time and is actively encouraging creators to keep that momentum going. Its Creativity Program, for instance, offers bonus earnings to creators of long-form videos.

If Meta hopes to one-up TikTok, it will need to do more than launch longer-form Reels. Instagram is currently leading the pack when it comes to influencer marketing—but according to a new study, TikTok is starting to look like a better option for advertisers. (Scroll down to read more on that.)

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Donald Trump’s election interference trial, slated to begin on October 23, will be streamed on YouTube. (Tubefilter)
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• TikTok’s AR development platform, Effect House, is now out of beta and available for download. (TechCrunch)
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• Instagram is testing out a suggested posts feature that will help users “see the latest content from Threads directly on Instagram.” (TechCrunch)
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• A new update allows users to see and add YouTube comments directly from the YouTube Music app. (The Verge)

DATA • CREATORS ON THE RISE 📈

With a six-figure investment and 3 million followers, this creator’s potential is unlimited

By the time COVID rolled around in 2020, zoeunlimited had decided that she was done playing it safe. The creator had always been “creatively driven,” but was also (understandably) “scared of becoming a starving artist.” So, she graduated with a degree in business economics, found a suitable job in the field, and was well on her way to a promising career in the financial sector.

Then the pandemic hit—and everything changed.

With that newfound resolve, zoeunlimited went all in. She launched a YouTube channel and started posting long-form videos on “personal growth, self-confidence, fitness, wellness, and overall adulting.” Not long after, she began incorporating Shorts into her content—and her subscriber base “more than doubled its size within a month.”

Three years later, zoeunlimited is still helping her audience “focus on their wellness” and “reflect more critically towards the status quo.” The only difference: the creator’s audience is now made up of 3 million subscribers (including pop star Olivia Rodrigo). That growth is just the beginning. With a six-figure investment from CreatorDAO and a new series on the way, zoeunlimited’s star is on the rise. Check out her full story here.

TIKTOK ON TOP

Does TikTok offer brands the most bang for their buck? A recent report says yes.

Instagram may be leading the influencer marketing industry, but a new study says that TikTok brings its sponsors the most engagement. In a survey of sponsored posts across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and several other platforms, CreatorIQ found that TikTok’s branded content delivers the highest engagement rates.

The stats behind that conclusion are crystal clear—but calculating them was a challenge.

CreatorIQ and Tribe Dynamics used a mix of metrics to measure sponsored posts: on TikTok, CreatorIQ added up each post’s likes, comments, shares, and saves before dividing by total views to determine the engagement rate. For formats like Instagram’s Stories and Reels, “estimated impressions” factored into the equation.

The results:

• On Instagram, “megainfluencers” (i.e. creators with at least one million followers) achieved an average engagement rate of .23%.
  

• YouTube-based megainfluencers brought that figure up to 1.6%.
  

• And on TikTok, the average megainfluencer engagement rate reached a whopping 5.2%.

Things shook out differently for posts uploaded by the little guys.

On TikTok, megainfluencers offered better engagement rates across the board—but for all the other platforms, engagement dropped as follower counts rose. Take YouTube, for example: On that platform, CreatorIQ found that nanoinfluencers (i.e. creators with under 10,000 followers) and microinfluencers (10,000-100,000 followers) posted stronger engagement rates than equivalent TikTok accounts.

WATCH THIS 📺

Miley Cyrus’ TikTok documentary has already picked up over 20 million views

The Plastic Hearts singer’s latest marketing strategy is paying off in a big way. Earlier this week, Miley Cyrus uploaded a web series on TikTok to promote her new single (aka “Used To Be Young”). Within five days, the 19-video series—which revolves around Cyrus’ reactions to clips from her past—had earned 20 million views.

Fans can check out the first “Used To Be Young” episode here.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.