Instagram rivals Youtube with the IGTV app for creators
Instagram has always been the sort of company to constantly innovate, and it seems, their next innovative move is going head-to-head with Youtube. Today at a news event in San Francisco, Instagram made an exciting announcement that it will now allow users to upload video that are an hour long, compared to the previous one-minute length. And if that isn't enough, they have housing this new addition a new app called IGTV. This will be accessible from one button within the Instagram app on the home screen. As well as being an app on its own, IGTV, will also share popular videos from Instagram celebrities.
Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram said, "It's time for video to move forward, and evolve", while on stage at the event. "IGTV is for watching long-form videos from your favourite creators." You can find more details of the new launch on Instagram's business blog.
How IGTV works
IGTV will let anyone be a creator, not just big-name celebrities. People will be able to upload vertical videos through Instagram’s app or the web. Everyone except smaller and new accounts will be able to upload hour-long videos immediately, with that option expanding to everyone eventually.
The IGTV app will be available globally on iOS and Android sometime today, as well as in the Instagram app through a TV shaped button above Stories. “We made it a dedicated app so you can tap on it and enjoy video without all the distraction,” Systrom explained.
No Ads as yet
“There’s no ads in IGTV today,” says Systrom, but he says it’s “obviously a very reasonable place [for ads] to end up.” He explained that since creators are investing a lot of time into IGTV videos, he wants to make that sustainable by offering them a way to monetize in the future. Instagram isn’t paying any creators directly for IGTV videos either, like Facebook did to jump-start its flopped Facebook Watch video hub.
Instagram has grown so much since the days of just being the platform to share selfies and your meals everyday. There was a time when users were just not ready to watch long-form videos past 1 minute, so seeng the new launch now, just goes to show how much growth has been achieved in both sides. As more and more people are turning to Netflix and other on-demand streaming platforms, it seems Instagram now wants to be in ranking, to becoming the new tv. Although, Youtube does host a wider range of content and appeals to a lot of creators, Instagram may just be the platform to fill in the gap for users, who prefer to watch content on the small screen.
