TikTok has confirmed that it is testing a new landscape full-screen mode with select users globally. Users with access to the quiz feature will be able to view a new square or rectangular video in their stream. “full screen” button will appear. Click the button and the video switches to a landscape full screen mode that takes advantage of all the space on your phone.
The testing feature marks another way TikTok has consistently entered YouTube’s domain. Earlier this year, TikTok introduced the ability for users to upload videos up to 10 minutes long. The action was seen as a way for TikTok to attract the same type of longer-form video creators who normally post content on YouTube. With the expansion, creators gained more flexibility to film things like cooking demos, beauty tutorials, educational content, comedy sketches and more without having to worry too much about the length of the video.
Now that TikTok has been supporting long version content for a while, it makes sense for the company to improve the viewing experience for users who watch such videos, while at the same time making the creative experience better for creators. Often times, creators provide one per video so that users can fully enjoy the content that would play if they recorded a video horizontally. “dial your phone” adds the message. With this feature, creators will no longer have to do this.
While some people welcome the testing feature and the opportunities it brings, some audiences may not. TikTok is the app that massively popularized the vertical video scrolling format that other companies quickly copied, so its users might not exactly like the new full-screen mode once they get used to the vertical format.
As with any test feature, it’s unknown when or if TikTok plans to roll out the full-screen mode broadly to all users. It’s also worth noting that the final product may look different from the test product if TikTok decides to release the feature officially.
One way TikTok can change the feature before an official presentation is to make the feature more intuitive. Currently you have to click the button to switch to full screen mode, but maybe in the future users will have to turn their phone sideways to watch in full screen which is something other apps allow users to do.
The test feature comes at a time when data shows kids and teens are now spending more time watching TikTok than YouTube. This has been the case since June 2020, when TikTok began to outpace YouTube in terms of average daily minutes spent by people aged 4 to 18 accessing these two competitive video platforms. TikTok continues to advance step-by-step into YouTube’s space by improving the viewing experience.
On the other hand, YouTube continues to rival TikTok with its TikTok rival Shorts. In September, YouTube announced significant changes to its YouTube Partner Program that will allow creators to earn ad revenue from Shorts. Prior to this, no short video platform had fully figured out how to share ad revenue, giving Shorts an opportunity to stay ahead of the competition.