According to BoingBoing, sources inside YouTube have informed them that the leading video site will soon increase the maximum length of videos from 10 to 15 minutes. [UPDATE: YouTube has confirmed this in a blog post].
Currently, certain YouTube channels/partners can already upload longer videos, but not Joe-average-user. If/when YouTube does roll out a 15 minute limit, how much of an impact this will have, we’re not sure. 15 minutes isn’t exactly long-form video, but 5 minutes is 5 minutes, so we’re sure plenty of people will now give us 5 extra minutes of cats rolling around with a ball of string. Excellent.
UPDATE: As we mentioned above, YouTube has officially raised the limit to 15 minutes, and here’s its explanation of why now:
“Well, we’ve spent significant resources on creating and improving our state-of-the-art Content ID system and many other powerful tools for copyright owners. Now, all of the major U.S. movie studios, music labels and over 1,000 other global partners use Content ID to manage their content on YouTube. Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today.”
BoingBoing also says that they also believe that YouTube will run a “15 minutes of fame” video contest to celebrate the new time limit. Get ready for your close up.
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