10 things about IGTV: the new Instagram app for videos

Instagram yesterday launched a big new entry: IGTV, the Instagram TV. A new app entirely dedicated to videos that defies Youtube.

Here you can watch the entire presentation made by Kevin Systrom CEO and co-founder of Instagram (can you imagine what it might mean introduce yourself like that?!) yesterday in San Francisco.

Instagram was born almost 8 years ago, in 2010 and since then our life has changed! Today, Instagram is a global community of 1 billion users.
8 years ago the big entries were the square format and filters. In 2013 arrived the possibility to upload videos, in 2016 stories arrived and today IGTV.

I tell you, this will make you feel old: in the launch of IGTV Kevin Systrom reported that teenagers today watch 40% less TV but 60% more video content on Instagram and they expect that by 2021 78% of mobile traffic will be video. This is the reason why they are investing so much on video content.
We can do nothing: TV is old. But not only that, it seems that the horizontal video format is old too! And here is where Instagram face Youtube!

It has always shocked me that the majority of teens today are not computer wizards as I would expect, but they live their lives online only through their smartphones. For this reason rotate your phone to see a full screen video is considered “old-style” .

10 things you need to know about IGTV:

Only vertical video: mobile first

You can upload and watch only vertical full screen video – if you use the horizontal format you can decide whether to add blurred bands above and below (something that until now has always been seen on the sides! Old…) or return rotating the phone (even older).

No more video and photos mix like on the stories.

Duration

This is the main difference from the stories: you can upload videos up to an hour long and will not disappear, will be archived in your channel, always visible.

Disclaimer: at the moment, common users can upload videos between 15 seconds and 10 minutes. The videos up to 60 minutes long announced are currently reserved only for users with more followers or verified (the famous blue check) but only for PC uploads.
The limit should be removed in the coming months.

ps: visibility will respect your privacy settings, just like Instagram.

Simple

Instagram swears that IGTV is all designed to be intuitive and easy to use.

Quality

To differentiate itself from TV (and Youtube) IGTV announces that its contents will be selected. You will not be immersed in an endless offer where it is difficult to find your way but you will find the channels (yes, Youtube and TV are old but we continue talking about “channels”) of creators you follow, of whom Instagram thinks you can like (creepy) and the most popular.

Swiping up you find these categories: for you, following, popular, continue watching.

Computer upload

IGTV does not provide editing tools on video so if you want cut and edit you can switch to a computer and you can upload the contents on your channel from here, without going over the smartphone.

Interaction

You can comment, like and send videos to your friends using dm just like with Instagram contents.

Forward videos

Like videos on Youtube, also on IGTV you can forward the video and as for the stories, you can switch from one channel to another just sliding your finger on the screen.

Adv

There is no advertising on IGTV… yet!
It will be interesting to see how paid contents will be managed on this new platform. Also on IGTV is possible to see analytics and insights.

Everyone can have his own channel

One channel for each account: everyone can have only one channel.

IGTV app or inside Instagram

It is already available the free IGTV app for Android and iOS, or you can continue to watch it (but not upload videos) within Instagram: can you spot the small TV-like icon on the top right of your screen?

Do you have some doubts? Me too. Perhaps this is another symptom of being old!
I keep thinking that in the horizontal format you can see much better…
The job of those who make videos will have to change: they will have to be made videos in 2 formats, one horizontal for the more traditional social media and the new vertical format for IGTV.

But I’m curious to try it. It could however be an opportunity to make that show you dream with your friends for years now, to create your TV series. I’m imagining it as a chance for new independent projects, IGTV could become a place to discover new talents and new series for the old TV… just as it was already been Youtube… you know, history is recurrent!