IGTV

Last week Wednesday, Instagram announced a new upgrade for the app which now includes a long-format of video called "IGTV" with its icon right next to the DMs icon on the top right of the screen. Here in Mzansi you would've noticed the update on Friday and if you haven't updated your app by now, you're totally missing out on some cool content.

Facebook, which is the mother company of Instagram said that IGTV allows content creators to produce 4k videos in a vertical format strictly optimised for mobile viewers. This will enable users to make videos that are longer than the traditional one minute videos that they have on Stories which will enable Instagram to basically tap into Google's YouTube territory. This move will enable influencers and other content creators such as vloggers to spread their content long and wide across the internet without the strict guidelines of YouTube.

IGTV presents Instagram with a unique opportunity to grow its advertising revenues by inserting ads in between the long videos just like you see them on YouTube. Of course this comes with it's problems and the obvious one is copyright infringement by creators, however this is not a big issue as those videos will be demonetised by IGTV where necessary.

The chart below shows why Instagram is jumping on the long-format bandwagon with the new IGTV app. Long-format video consumption is growing faster than any form of video thanks to lower data prices and cheaper smartphones.

You will find more infographics at Statista