Instagram Launches Long-Form Video and New App IGTV - 10 Yetis Insight

Just hours ago, digital news power-house TechCrunch unveiled the news we content creators have all been waiting for – long form video on Instagram! But that’s not all, to house the flurry of incredible, cinematic content, the ‘gram has also created a brand new app – IGTV!

The new feature, that enables users to share videos up to one hour in length, is currently being rolled out globally on iOS and Android from today, enabling digital marketers, content creators, videographers and brands to unlock the power of feature-length videos, helping to build better and deeper brand relationships. This has been updated from the previous video length limit of one minute.

The reason this news is being received so well and is such a big movement for Instagram, as well as the social sphere, is because this is the first ever true platform created for vertical video! Yes! No more 600x600 boxes, no more having to re-edit content to suit the channel’s restrictions. From today, content creators have more freedom – in creativity too!

After downloading the IGTV app, I instantly was thrown into the past days of Vine, although there’s more grittiness to get your teeth into. Accessible from within the IG app from the homescreen (top right, next to the messages feature) as well as the standalone app, IGTV is said to “spotlight popular videos from Instagram celebrities”.

Instagram’s CEO Kevin Systrom claimed, “It’s time for video to move forward, and evolve. IGTV is for watching long-form videos from your favorite creators”.I think this basically means that if you have a certain amount of followers, post regularly, have an engaged community and also engage with others yourself, you will be able to reap the rewards from this new feature.

TechCrunch stated that the app will allow anyone to be a creator, not just your big-name IG celebs. However, the new feature is also said to be restricted to bigger and established accounts, as it’s mentioned that everyone except smaller and new accounts will be able to use the 1-hour upload feature. Those people will then be able to upload their long-form video via the IG app or the website. Exciting times, hey!?

IGTV will also let content creators cultivate slick Instagram Channels full of awesome, engaging content that people can then subscribe to – another challenge to YouTube’s offering! I imagine that through the use of discovery tactics, e.g. using hashtags, location, etc., users will find it much easier and quicker to grow their followings – which will also worry those at YouTube HQ.

You’ll be pleased to hear that “There are no ads in IGTV today”, which was confirmed by Systrom, but he did also say that it’s “obviously a very reasonable place [for ads] to end up”. Hmmm… so while the app is ad-free for now, we can’t rule it out for the future. I guess they’ve got to come up with a way to monetize the app if they are taking on YouTube! I think IG has a real opportunity here. YouTube has consistently come under fire recently due to various issues, which has been quite brand damaging. Instagram on the other hand has only ever been reliable, fun and consistent, meaning that they have the opportunity to become the true TV of mobile!

Instagram has sky rocketed this year, with many individuals as well as brands jumping on the ‘gram wagon. The channel hit a milestone last September, with 1 billion users said to be registered on the app. As this continues to grow, so will the amount of content being shared and the channel will become increasingly more saturated, leaving us in a very tricky position where it will become more difficult to stand out. Could we have another revolt like Facebook on our hands looming? Watch this space!