Every month we read the platform announcements so our clients don't have to. Here is what changed in late October and early November 2026, and what it means if you run a business in Vancouver and use video to sell.
1. Instagram is testing 90-minute videos called “Features”
On October 26, Instagram announced it is testing a new upload type called Features: videos up to 90 minutes long. The test started with creators in Brazil and is now expanding to a small group in the United States. It is not a public launch yet, and Meta says it is too early to talk about how creators will be paid.
Instagram has been a short-form app for years. If long video lands there, the brand film, the client interview and the behind-the-scenes documentary get a second home next to YouTube. Plan your long content so it can be cut into Reels, and keep the full version ready for when the format opens up.
2. Meta opens image-to-video ads to all advertisers
At Advertising Week New York, Meta made video generation from static images generally available inside Advantage+ creative. In plain terms: you upload product photos and Meta's tools turn them into short animated ads.
The output is only as good as the input. A sharp, well-lit product photo animates into a usable ad; a phone snapshot on a cluttered counter does not. Good photography just became more valuable, not less, because it now feeds your video ads too. Use the AI versions to test ideas cheaply, and keep real footage for the ads that carry your brand.
3. TikTok adds in-feed checkout and richer comments
TikTok announced Buy Direct, a one-click checkout that lets people buy from the For You feed without leaving the app. No launch date or country list has been shared yet. It also shipped its largest comment update so far: voice comments up to 60 seconds, comment polls that creators can pin under their own videos, and photo carousel replies of up to nine images.
The distance between “I saw it” and “I bought it” keeps shrinking. If you sell products, your short videos need to show the product clearly in the first seconds. And comment polls are a free way to ask your audience what they want next: a simple research tool hiding in plain sight.
4. Google changes how links appear in AI answers
On October 15, Google announced five changes to how sources appear in AI Mode and AI Overviews. Three are rolling out: more inline links shown higher in answers, more visible related-article links with thumbnails, and timely-article carousels in more locations and languages. Two are still tests: a dedicated section for official task pages, and creator and publisher names on video results that link to their Search profiles.
Google is making it a little easier for people to click through from AI answers to real websites, and it is starting to credit video creators by name. Clear, useful pages and well-labelled videos are how you earn those clicks. We wrote a separate guide to Google AI Mode for local businesses.
The pattern this month
Three of these four stories point the same way: platforms want more video, in more formats, closer to the sale. AI tools make it faster to produce variations, but every one of them starts from your own material: your photos, your footage, your story. The businesses that win are the ones with a library of strong, original content for the tools to work with.
If you want help building that library, from product photography and short-form video to a full brand film, tell us about your project.