Instagram Updates IGTV To Focus On Creators & Discovery

Source: Instagram

Instagram has rolled out a few new updates for its standalone IGTV app that put a focus on creators and discovery. These updates include a redesigned homepage, a new Discover tab, hands-free recording, and more.

Redesigned Home Page:

The homepage is completely redesigned with an emphasis on promoting individual creators. When you open up the IGTV app, you’ll see a section spotlighting a Popular Creator at the top of the screen. What Popular Creator appears here will be tailored to you and is based on who you follow and content the app thinks that you would most be interested in. Under the Popular Creator section is a vertical feed of IGTV content from people that you follow.

Discover Tab:

While the homepage only features videos from a Popular Creator and people you follow, the Discover tab provides a range of videos with IGTV content surfacing from a variety of creators. There is also a search function at the top of the screen, which allows you to search for specific creators. When you search for a creator and click on their account, you’ll be taken to an IGTV-dedicated profile for them that features a feed of their IGTV content only.

Hands-Free Capture:

Lastly, there is a new hands-free capture feature that allows you to record IGTV videos hands-free. The feature is located at the top left of the homepage, as well as your IGTV profile. After clicking on it and giving the app permissions to access your device’s videos and microphone, you can record videos hands-free, but they have to be at least a minute in length.

While not a specific update to the IGTV app, Instagram has slightly tweaked the way that you can share IGTV content to Stories. Previously, when you shared IGTV content as a Story, it would be a freeze-frame that your followers would need to click to start watching the video. Now, when you share IGTV content as a Story, the first 15 seconds of the video will play, providing your followers with a preview of the video.

Insights & Analysis:

Instagram Live is getting a lot of attention right now, but IGTV shouldn’t be left out of the conversation. There has been an increase in brands and creators sharing IGTV content as a result of the pandemic. Instagram has traditionally struggled with getting brands and creators to consistently invest in the video destination, but that has slowly been changing as the Facebook-owned platform rolls out more effective features and tools and improves the user experience.

Although the biggest hurdle for mainstream adoption remains to be its current lack of creator monetization, this round of updates will be appealing since there is a big focus on creators and making the content that they share easier to discover.

These, combined with creator monetization in the works, make IGTV a content format that creators, as well as brands, should invest in or at least explore if they aren’t already doing so.

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SOURCE: The Verge