Instagram Reel boost rules: 90 s, 9:16, no licensed music

A Reel you want to boost should be 90 seconds or shorter, full-screen 9:16, and free of licensed music. Instagram's help pages also list effects, GIFs, product tags and interactive stickers as blockers. On Sume, wan-3.0 takes aspect_ratio: "9:16", runs 2 to 30 seconds per job and generates its own audio, so three 30-second jobs cover the 90-second ceiling.

The limits come from the Boost an Instagram Reel help page and the Meta troubleshooting page (read 2026-10-12). Meta can change them, so check both before a campaign. The page text was only partly readable when we fetched it, so treat the exact wording as something to confirm.

What does a Reel need to be boost-eligible?

Instagram's help material lists these conditions, and each one maps to a choice you make before generating anything.

How many Sume jobs make a 90-second boost-ready Reel?

Three, each at the 30-second maximum of wan-3.0. The catalog lists 9:16, native audio and 480p, 720p and 1080p, at $0.0625, $0.125 and $0.25 per second.

At 720p one 30-second job is 30 x $0.125 = $3.75, and three jobs are 3 x $3.75 = $11.25. At 480p it is 90 x $0.0625 = $5.625. Check GET /v1/videos/models, the live catalog, for current rates before you budget.

How do I request the clips?

Send one request per beat with its own Idempotency-Key. The sample submits three 30-second 9:16 jobs and prints their ids; poll each job as described in the API reference.

import asyncio, os, httpx

BEATS = ["Hook: a street vendor flips a pancake", "Middle: close-up of toppings", "End: customer's first bite"]

async def main():
    h = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SUME_API_KEY']}"}
    async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=60) as c:
        for i, beat in enumerate(BEATS):
            r = await c.post(
                "https://api.sume.com/v1/videos",
                headers={**h, "Idempotency-Key": f"reel-boost-{i}"},
                json={"model": "wan-3.0", "prompt": beat,
                      "duration": 30, "resolution": "720p",
                      "aspect_ratio": "9:16", "generate_audio": True},
            )
            r.raise_for_status()
            print(i, r.json().get("id"))

asyncio.run(main())

Does generated audio count as original audio?

Instagram's wording is about licensed music, and a model-generated soundtrack is not a licensed track from Instagram's music library. We do not know how Meta classifies it in every case, so listen to the result and publish a test Reel before you commit budget. For the audio field on the Instagram side, see the music vs original sound post.

When is this the wrong approach?

Skip it when the limits above do not fit your goal.

• You want a trending licensed song: that Reel will not be boostable, so use a different ad format.
• Your Reel needs on-screen stickers, GIFs or product tags: add them to an organic post instead of the boosted one.
• Your video is longer than 90 seconds: cut it, since the listed ceiling is 90 s.
• You only need the boost step through Meta's tooling: see boosting through the Meta ads MCP server.