The Video War Heats Up As Instagram Launches IGTV App You can use IGTV app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favorite Instagram creators
By Nidhi Singh
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Videos are all rage nowadays. The millennials spend most of their time scrolling through videos on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and internet is the major driving factor for this shift. A recent Hotstar's India Watch Report 2018 reveals that consumption of online videos has registered five-fold growth over the past one year. The study also highlights that 96 percent of all usage is being driven by long-form videos. This marks an inflexion point in India where the early years of online video were characterized by short form consumption from users deeply fearful of data charges.
The report clearly indicates that the best time to consume the long-form videos is now. And the sudden shift will bring some good news for Instagram which has recently launched a new video service called IGTV at an event held in San Francisco. The Facebook-owned social network has also hit the milestone of one billion monthly users.
This is What You Need to Do :
The functions of this app are as simple as turning on the TV. IGTV starts playing as soon as you open the app. You don't have to search to start watching content from people you already follow on Instagram and others you might like based on your interests. All you have to do is swipe up to discover more and switch between "For You," "Following," "Popular" and "Continue Watching" features. You can also like, comment and send videos to friends in Direct.
Google vs. Facebook: Its War
The biggest difference that separates this app from other competitors like Google-owned YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo is that the videos aren't limited to one minute. Instead, each video can be up to an hour long. Basically, it's built for how you actually use your phone, so videos are full screen and vertical. You can use IGTV app for watching long-form, vertical videos from your favorite Instagram creators, like LaurDIY (Social Influencer) posting her newest project or King Bach (Content Creator), sharing his latest comedy skit. While there's a stand-alone app, you'll also be able to watch videos from within the Instagram app.
Start Your Own Channel:
From fashion, technology to music, some of the YouTube's biggest stars have made their channels into a career. However, earning serious money from videos isn't as easy as it sounds. It takes a hell of an effort to build engagement and subscriber loyalty over time. Now it would be interesting to see if IGTV launch will put its competitor YouTube at a tremendous disadvantage. Like a Television, IGTV has channels. But, in IGTV, the creators are the channels. When you follow a creator on Instagram, their channel will show up for you to watch. Anyone can be a creator and you can upload your own videos in the app or on the web to start your own channel.
