Instagram announced the launch of its longer-form video hub called IGTV. This new video hub was rumored to be found in the Explore tab of the Instagram app, but it will instead be a standalone app. Instagram gathered creators with the hopes that they will release new videos between 15 seconds to 60 minutes long on the new hub.
Instagram is hoping that they will make videos around 10-minutes in length like creators do on YouTube.
Instagram Launching IGTV
In an event on June 20 in San Francisco, Instagram announced that its rumored video hub is officially happening. Instagram has been expanding past just images since its launch. With the addition of videos, Stories, and live videos, this move seemed to be the next logical step to sway some creators away from Snapchat and YouTube.
IGTV will be a standalone app. It will take up the entire screen, and videos will begin to play as soon as the app is opened. Instagram says that the video will be featured in vertical mode because the app was made with mobile phones in mind.
Creators that were featured in the presentation included Ninja, Susie Shu, Katie Austin, Bryce Xavier, Lauren Godwin, Lauren Riihimaki, and Lele Pons, who has 25 million followers on Instagram.
Instagram launched videos on June 20, 2013, five years ago. IGTV will be rolling out over the next few weeks with Android and iOS versions of the app.
Facebook Trying To Steal Creators Too
Even though Instagram is one arm of Facebook, taking creators away from other platforms is also the strategy that Facebook is getting behind. It announced that it would be allowing more content to become eligible for its Watch program. This would entice content creators to take a chance on the program if they're able to monetize their content.
Initially, Facebook Watch was to be more of a Netflix-style hub. There would be shows that were created by traditional media and production companies. Original shows on the platform were eligible for ad breaks.
Facebook also announced that fans would be able to subscribe to their videos. It also announced that they would have the ability to create polls and quizzes on content in their channels.
Analysts say that Facebook is late to the content industry. YouTube attracts most of the top creators due to their ability to monetize their content on the platform. Critics say that space is already crowded, and it doesn't help that Facebook is thought of as a social network and not a video platform.
