Instagram users will now be able to see how many views their videos have gotten on the social media platform over a few weeks' time.
The view counts are positioned below the lower left corner of the video, right where the Likes used to be. To see the number of Likes and the people who did so, clicking on "views" will bring up the details. Just like on Facebook, three seconds will count as one view.
"Over the next few weeks, you'll start to see how many times people have watched a video on Instagram. Views are the most widely expected form of feedback on video. That's why you'll begin to see view counts underneath videos where before you'd normally see likes," the company says.
According to the company, the time people spent watching videos on Instagram was bumped up by more than 40 percent in the span of 6 months.
How exactly do the view counts weigh in on this matter? Well, to put two and two together, this move suggests that the company is trying to make the platform even more appealing to video creators and marketers, chipping away portions from competitors such as YouTube and Vine.
Instagram appears to be keen on having video makers create original and creative clips using the 15-second format. With over 400 million active users on Instagram, it's definitely a promising medium to upload video content on.
Now, having the view counts displayed for everyone to see could encourage marketers to make videos and purchase ads for promotion purposes. This is a better way to spread their commercials instead of simply taking chunks of their videos on YouTube or on TV and uploading it on Instagram. Furthermore, having the numbers in plain sight will serve as proof that their videos are thriving on the platform, where Instagram will be able to charge those marketers more when they get good traction.
More to the point, advertisers could soon have video makers craft or share videos for them. There's a possibility that they will also fork over cash to Instagram for prominent ad spaces on the platform. In other words, video creators, marketers and the company itself stand to make more money out of the entire deal.
One of the prime examples who can make the most out of this update is Zach King, who gains 5 million views a day on Instagram.
As of right now, other specifics have not been cleared up yet. For starters, Instagram reportedly doesn't have any plan to make its own content, and whether or not the company will share ad revenue with top video makers remains uncertain.
With that said, Instagram's parent company Facebook does give the said creators a piece of the ad revenue pie, so there's more or less a chance that it'll follow the same practice in due time.
On a related note, this new development is hot on the heels of the extended ad time on Instagram, going from 30 seconds to 60. It's worth noting that T-Mobile is one of the first companies to take advantage of this, producing an ad that featured the musician Drake.
For those who don't know, Instagram also rolled out multi-account switching for the iOS just recently. This essentially means that the company is improving the ease of working with the platform.
Instagram has already started to test out the view counts update with a couple of users, and the feature should launch to everyone soon enough.
