Acknowledging the fact that users have been fervently requesting for an increase in the maximum length of uploaded videos, YouTube Thursday announced that it has extended the maximum video length from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

Noting that the increase in the upload limit had resulted from the recent enhancements introduced to YouTube's Content ID system, Joshua Siegel, the company's product manager for upload and video management, said in a blog post that the ability to upload longer videos had been "without question, the number one requested feature" from users.

Siegel wrote: "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."

With nearly 24 hours' worth of video clips being uploaded to YouTube every minute, the extension of maximum time grants the YouTube users five extra minutes to upload longer videos - with businesses now having five additional minutes to make use of the popular video sharing site for marketing, training, and customer service.

In an attempt to promote the extension of time, YouTube is asking users to create and upload their own "15 Minutes of Fame" videos, which should be tagged "yt15minutes", by August 4. The videos of the winners will, some time in the near future, feature on the YouTube homepage.