Instagram has made an announcement today that the company is launching a new platform named IGTV. Now, IGTV stands for Instagram TV and is exactly what you think it is. It is a direct competition to Youtube which is currently the best platform for viewing videos. On Instagram, the users were limited to uploading videos of limited timeframe also known as short-form videos. However, IGTV is opposite to that where users can upload videos up to 60 mins in length. However, this is way lesser than Youtube which does not have any time limit, it is still a huge leap forward from Instagram.
Talking more about IGTV, the creators of this platform can upload videos ranging from 15 seconds up to 60 minutes. Currently, the focus from Instagram for IGTV is set on celebrities who have established themselves on Instagram. However, these celebrities are not the ones seen on TV or in print-ads but the ones who have made their name through Instagram alone. Moreover, IGTV has a standalone application for itself as well where you can browse videos from your favorite creators. One condition for IGTV is that you can only upload videos in vertical format for now.
Now, one of the features of IGTV is that the videos will autoplay whenever you open the IGTV app. The video recommendation for you will be based on the algorithms that study your likes and dislikes. There are categories on IGTV which include “For You,” “Following,” “Popular,” and “Continue Watching.”. Also, the platform will have some sort of monetization model as well but there is currently no announcement for the same. If we have a look at the popularity of Instagram, the company has recently reported 1 Billion, active users. Also, the company claims to gain 100 million users every month. Thus, IGTV is sure to be a hit but it remains to be seen how the creators of IGTV get revenue from the platform.
Source: Instagram Press