TIkTok takes on YouTube by offering full-screen horizontal videos

The war is raging between TikTok and YouTube. The two platforms have a history of copying their respective features, and this time around, it’s TikTok that finally adopts its competitor’s iconic horizontal videos.

TikTok is now testing a new horizontal full-screen mode with some users around the world. Users who have access to the test function will see a new “full screen” button to appear on square or rectangular videos in their feed. Once you click on this button, the video will switch to horizontal full screen mode, which will exploit the entire surface of your phone.

This feature is obviously taken from its competitor YouTube, which TikTok can’t really top despite its best efforts. Contrary to popular belief, YouTube remains far ahead of TikTok among teenagers. The YouTube Shorts format, which Google stole from TikTok, has more than 1.5 billion users worldwide.

TikTok steals a feature from YouTube again

Given that TikTok just doubled the length of its videos to 10 minutes, this change was quite expected. TikTok wants to keep increasing its total watch time, and long horizontal videos can be a new tool to boost its numbers.

With these rising time limits, creators can expand their content, by uploading long format videos similar to those found on YouTube. Publishing on both platforms at the same time could allow them to significantly increase their profits, in addition to increasing TikTok’s overall audience.

As is often the case, this new feature is currently only available for testing, and TikTok did not give details regarding its rollout for everyone. There’s always the chance that this test won’t go very well and that TikTok might drop the idea if it sees that users aren’t welcoming the feature well.

In the meantime, YouTube is not resting on its laurels, and continues to improve the experience of its users. YouTube Shorts, for example, now lets you use up to one minute of licensed music in your videos. Recently, Google also gives you the possibility to zoom in videos, a feature that has been expected for several years now.