In view of the competition from Tik Tok and YouTube, Instagram wants to move away from its image as a photo platform. To do so, the app is saying goodbye to IGTV and combining all moving image content under Instagram Video.
The pressure on Instagram from competing platforms such as YouTube and Tik Tok continues to increase. The focus here is particularly on the very young target group.
As recently as the end of June 2021, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced in a video that Instagram is “no longer just a sharing app for square photos.” The app wants to focus more on video content.
The end of IGTV
Instagram is now saying goodbye to its IGTV brand. The platform for videos with more than 60 seconds has thus had its day.
However, the separate app will not disappear from the scene. Instagram is combining all video activities under the new name Instagram Video. This includes short videos, videos with a length of more than 60 seconds and up to one hour, and live videos.
Instagram Reels, however, remain unaffected by the merger, as Techcrunch reports. Users:inside can continue to call them separately via the Instagram app.
Innovations for Instagram Video
The video upload remains the same – this can be done as usual via the small plus in the upper right corner of the Instagram app. The usual 60-second preview in the feed also remains unchanged.
With the rebranding of IGTV to Instagram Video, however, users will get some new features. For example, users can now crop their videos, add filters, and tag people and places.
In the future, the videos will appear in the user’s profile in a new video tab. This is where Instagram will merge all videos in the future – regardless of their duration.
IGTV with only 18 million downloads
According to figures from Sensor Tower, which Techcrunch cites, IGTV has never enjoyed great popularity. When Instagram removed the IGTV button from its home page in early 2020, the standalone IGTV app had just seven million downloads – and that’s with a billion Instagram users:in worldwide.
It is estimated that by August 31, 2021, the IGTV app had 18 million downloads worldwide – spread across Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. So now IGTV has been retired, and Instagram wants to roll out the new features immediately on iOS and Android.
