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IGTV — Instagram's new app for watching long-form, vertical videos
IGTV is a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favorite Instagram creators, like LaurDIY posting her newest project or King Bach sharing his latest comedy skit. While there’s a stand-alone IGTV app, you’ll also be able to watch from within the Instagram app so the entire community of one billion can use it from the very start.
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Does the world really ned this? I am guessing the answer for a lot of folks is Yes. Q: Could this be Facebook's way of using vanity videos to gain a "foot in the door " into YouTube's entrenched domain?
As a creator who recently invested in Youtube (camera equipment, editing software, sound, lighting etc) I'm interested to see how the video production for this new 'watch' app and feature plays out. Are we expected to put in the same amount of effort/time into this app or is the creation process native? Or is it something that's brought over to the app and just cut in the center of the frame post production? Either way this is interesting. I dont think i'd invest heavily into this but see it as something to put EXCLUSIVE content on as an add on to the content I'm already creating.
@trellwest Interesting points here - and it really goes back to how users search for content in general. YouTube still holds strong because of search-based behaviours from Google. I'll be very interested to see how IGTV metadata is being represented on search engines: that will be the ground-breaker that could make IGTV a strong player.
@trellwest @kylemalindawhite Will be interesting yes since IG on desktop is not a great experience, whereas it is app-based on mobile and users are less likely to search through the browser
Instagram should be for images and short clips. Long form videos
does not make sense here. We have YouTube and Facebook for the same.
Whats next? Ability to write "text" posts on Instagram? Mark, why are
just merging features across your apps. This is different for a reason
Pros:Businesses will finally be able to put long form videos
Cons:Instagram is not for long form videos
Many people's audiences are more captive on IG, whereas FB single digit percentage will see your post. Makes sense to me. IG also has a different demographic than Facebook these days.
@a_polsley I actually wouldn't mind it separate; IG's product keeps on growing and a single app can only contain so much without usability/discoverability issues.
@a_polsley If it follows suit with IG’s Boomerang, then it’ll likely start as a standalone app and eventually make its way integrated directly into the native app later on.
I love this. I've been experimenting with vertical only videos and follow some awesome creators who only do vertical. However I haven't seen long form videos done vertically and cannot imagine watching a portrait-mode movie. I already spend 90% of my time on Instagram stories so it's not totally surprising.
Also, if worse comes to worse you can still do landscape mode and just turn it vertically... have seen a lot of creators use that approach as well!
Super excited about this. One con however: Facebook sucks at search. There's no way they can compete with Google on that front so that will always be a limiting factor.
@allnick I can definitely see people watching lengthy vertical videos (think of everyone who watches Netflix on their phone), so I think it's more about whether creators embrace the format. A potential audience of 1 billion is a powerful incentive though…
@allnick +1. Also, they could eventually accommodate for horizontal (the way they eventually allowed for horizontal images within vertical Stories wayyy later), but the fact they shipped with vertical right out the gate tells me a substantial chunk of their user base must already have adopted vertical.
Definitely a great move. Many of those who vlog with their phones will probably end up using it. But autoplay (instead of having to browse or see a feed) could be a pretty bad for an app where a lot of people are already 'wasting' a good amount of time.
@xparacha I see myself possibly wasting a lot of time with this autoplay feature. Possible for IGTV to introduce "timed breaks" as a more humane way of managing the frictionless experience? Commercial breaks were a great way of grabbing food and taking a toilet break.
I like it, but I also don't like it. IGTV doesn't give new users the ability to gain much traction as 'instagram-celebrities' are already dominant.
Instagram has always been known for sharing pictures, and I think the presence of IGTV takes away what has made Instagram a unique social media platform.
Pros:Nicely Designed
Cons:Seems harder for new creators to gain spotlight, the concept already exists with Youtube, this isn't really a game-changer
@_seanmcd YouTube is built for that. IGTV is not. Or did you forget your /s tag? :D
This is following the trends of the younger demographic who want to watch longer videos in a more authentic manner (not too well-produced) but are not on Facebook as often as they are on Instagram. Very smart move, really excited to see the monetisation options for creators as well and whether it will move creators away from YouTube.
Great UI as well - focused on discovery at the moment so I hope over time, the app will learn what topics are important to me so I don't have to go on a big chase to find relevant content.
@kylemalindawhite I found it interesting how they were almost pushing for anti-discoverability/searchability with autoplaying channels, as if they’re assuming people don’t want that. But when I think of my own tv/content consumption habits, I would definitely prefer to have a way to search for specific niches and topics. +1 on an algorithm that will learn what I like quickly to serve up relevant reccos; Spotify does a great job at this.
Top Hunter
Wow, @grex must be getting robbed given his recent launch of Dreams.
I think the skeptics here should be mindful of how much the network effect that Instagram and facebook has will give this an edge. It might not have an obvious fit with a market now, but I imagine this will be one of many experiments into increasing watch time for FB's properties.
I think a natural fit might be expanding what people can do with Instagram Stories and Live streaming. Theres a huge amount of eye balls there, and the content is very DIY/low production value (which is of benefit to it honestly) but I imagine people might be interested in swiping through some higher production value content in the same experience. Brands and creators should be able to have a central place to create such content and IGTV seems like a natural fit.
I still have so many questions. Does the video need to be recorded live? Does it live on a channel after it has been viewed or does it disappear like stories? When will the app actually be available?
Bold move across the board! Not sure how I feel about the emphasis on 'vertical' video but I guess I respect that they are 'all in.'
I'm upvoting this just because this launch will impact A LOT the social media market and opens a great space to independent content producers. More platforms, means better competition and better services, mainly niche players, like Twitch and Pinterest have done
This will work, but we might have to wait a few weeks to see the results.
many people are compering this to youtube.
I don't think youtube has anything to worry from this, that is up until IGTV starts paying their content creators.
I just downloaded the ios version from appstore and it is really exciting.
Pros:great to upload long videos
Cons:it is an extra app from Instagram
The UI design of this app shares many, many similarities to the app "Channel" we built during our time at Swipe Labs. Not sure what to think... @edwin_de_jongh ?
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