Instagram is renouncing one of its major brands. After giving up the exclusivity of short videos, the IGTV application, which allows long content (up to ten minutes), supports videos recorded horizontally. The company announced on Thursday that the platform launched in 2018 will have the new feature that modifies the nature of Instagram, bringing it closer to other channels of audiovisual material such as YouTube.
The standardization of IGTV with the format of other platforms is precisely what Instagram intends to increase the number of users in the application, which did not have the success expected by the company and still runs behind the audience reached by other tools. It is also expected to encourage financial interest in the channel, which already occurs on YouTube.
According to the company, the change comes because content creators and some viewers are asking for the feature and already find videos in landscape format on IGTV, but they are not supported to watch them in full screen.
“We realize that this is an evolution from where IGTV started we believe it’s the right change for viewers and creators,” the statement said. “In many ways, opening IGTV for more than just vertical videos is similar to when we opened Instagram for more than just square footage in 2015.” The note adds that the company hopes that change will also allow creativity and engagement to increase.
Most of the reasons that have prevented IGTV from falling into the likes of content creators and users are the lack of application monetization features, revenue that influencers receive with posts in the stories and feed.
The low view that the IGTV achieves is one of the obstacles against monetization. Unlike YouTube, Instagram does not have an ad service that pays creators. In turn, the brands did not see the platform as profitable and, therefore, still do not pay creators to create their own content for the channel.
In the end, users see the app as extra work, since it required videos to be recorded vertically, which made it impossible for YouTube creators to broadcast the same content on the platform for little financial return.
With landscape format support, Instagram expects IGTV to gain more views and diverse content, which can increase the financial interest of brands and creators. Also as an attempt to broaden the reach of the application, the company started allowing users a few months ago to share previews of the IGTV videos in the feed, which was a positive result.
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