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By 2021, it is estimated that video will account for 78% of all mobile data traffic. IGTV is expected to play a role in that statistic, so it’s important for communication professionals to start incorporating it into their social media strategy now.
Instagram’s video capabilities have come a long way since its launch in 2010 – video wasn’t introduced until 2013 and was limited to 15 seconds in length. In 2016, Instagram gave users the ability to post and view videos that were up to 60 seconds long.
In 2018, Instagram introduced IGTV. The launch was noteworthy because it gave average users the ability to upload videos up to 10 minutes in length. Larger accounts and verified accounts gained the ability to upload videos an hour in length. While Instagram initially struggled with IGTV, they saw a 300-1000% increase in views once they began putting previews in people’s feeds. As IGTV continues to evolve, it’s proven to be a feature that’s important to utilize. Here are three important things to pay attention to with IGTV:
- Since IGTV is fairly new, there is a largely untapped audience waiting to be reached. Instagram’s decision to put IGTV previews in users’ feeds has exposed the company’s 1 billion monthly users to the content on IGTV.
- Some brands are still struggling to build a presence on IGTV because of the perception that video production is costly. Brands that want to get ahead, however, will realize that they don’t have to spend a lot of money to effectively reach their audience on a platform like Instagram. It also helps that IGTV is now allowing video uploads in landscape orientation vs. the previously required portrait style, which was another limitation for brands who had preexisting video content that wasn’t shot according to IGTV specs.
- If IGTV gets as big as it hopes to, social media managers will eventually be able to create ads and boost IGTV videos. While this isn’t an option yet, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom says that ads are “a very reasonable place to end up.”
While it’s not possible to know how IGTV will continue to change, it’s become a much stronger feature today compared to when it first launched and should be considered when creating social media strategies and campaigns for clients.
What do you think of IGTV? Have you used it for a client yet? Do you like watching long-form video on IGTV or do you skip over it?
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