Video content is highly competitive on social networks. This is also shown by the latest developments at Instagram Video and Tik Tok. While Instagram is finally phasing out IGTV, the competitor is increasingly focusing on longer content.
The IGTV brand has been retired since October 2021. At that time, Instagram had announced that it wanted to combine all video content under the new umbrella of Instagram Video.
In the announcement almost half a year ago, Meta still said that the separate IGTV app would continue to exist. But now the app is also going under the microscope.
The end of IGTV
Instagram has announced plans to end support for its standalone IGTV app. The video app is to disappear from the app stores as early as March 2022, as Meta confirmed to TechCrunch.
Instagram writes about this in a blog post that the simplification of video formats is the main focus. The network wants to invest further in this in the coming months.
With the end of IGTV, Instagram is also cancelling the so-called in-stream video ads, which were previously known as IGTV Ads. The reasoning: The network wants to focus more on the Tik-Tok clone Reels.
Instagram wants to support creators who previously used in-stream video ads with a temporary monthly payment. This is to be based on the amount of the last revenue.
Instagram Video puts Reels in the spotlight
With the innovations, Instagram wants to make it “even easier” for its users to create and consume videos.
To achieve this, Instagram also wants to make some changes to existing formats. In the future, users will be able to switch to full-screen mode in any video format or mute a video by tapping on it.
Video content is also to be standardized – for example, in the currently still very different creative tools or in the sharing of videos.
For creators, there will also be an innovation in terms of monetization in the course of the year. Instagram wants to enable income via ads in reels. The option is intended to complement the existing Reels bonus program.
Tik Tok takes a different approach
While Instagram is pushing its efforts for the highly sought-after video content primarily with the particularly short Reels format, competitor Tik Tok is taking a completely different approach.
As social media consultant Matt Navarra writes on Twitter, Tik Tok will in future offer videos of up to ten minutes in length.
As recently as July, Tik Tok expanded the length of videos on its own platform. Initially, only videos with a maximum of 60 seconds were possible; since Julia, up to three minutes have also been available.
So while Instagram is taking its cue from Tik Tok with short videos, the Chinese ByteDance subsidiary prefers to take aim at the video veteran YouTube.
