IS IGTV FAILING?

When Instagram launched their new platform, IGTV on June 20th - it seemed Instagram answered its users call of having the option to upload a video for longer than 15 seconds. Instagram challenged Snapchat by creating Instagram stories and its fair to say - Instagram won! Instagram wants another challenge and what better way to challenge a company that has been in its own league for years - YouTube.

IGTV a vertical video format which lets you upload videos from 15 seconds up to a maximum of 10 minutes. When it launched critics started talking about how this can compete with YouTube - a platform with no actual competitor. In the past, there was Vine (look at them now), Vimeo seemed to be YouTube's biggest competitor but they haven't really took off nor have they challenged YouTube. So when one of the biggest social media companies decided to launch their own platform just for videos you can understandably understand the hype around IGTV. With the fanbase and resources that most startups do not have and a user count of 1 billion and growing, the timing seemed to be perfect but a few months down the line it already seems the platform is failing.

As you can see, since its July 28th to present time its just been on the decline.

Is it a bad idea ?

I don't think so. As soon as the app launched creators were already discussing creative ways to upload vertically (as it harder than making a video in landscape), people were talking about the next generation of cameras having the ability of shooting vertically something which wouldn't even have been considered but then again having a user count of 1 billion has the ability to start anything and with the backing of Facebook it seemed likely what the next gen of cameras will feature.

But the question is why is IGTV failing?

1. Well first and foremost, IGTV does not have the number of creators YouTube has. YouTube been the origin of some of the world's most famous creators such as Casey Neistat, KSI, Pewdiepie and more. These creators attract millions of people to YouTube every month, IGTV needs to find that person that will do the same for them (hopefully it's just matter of time). In its launch Instagram showed people like King Bach but is he really going to change his platform completely to IGTV? I don't think so.
2. Monetization. Soon after IGTV launched every creator wanted to know What's In It For ME (WIIFM) ? For someone to change their platform or even join a new platform their needs to be a strong incentive and so far Instagram hasn't spoken about its monetization plans which has left some if not many potential creators reluctant to switch to an app which does not offer any compensation for their hard work and time. So the obvious answer is YouTube which in fairness is struggling with its monetization strategy but having a monetization plan is better than not having one at all !
3. Vertical format. Viewing vertically is something that most people are not used to (only for 15 seconds ??). Since we were born we are used to watching long videos horizontally rather than vertically. When it comes to watching a video vertically it wouldn't be more than 15 seconds, so at the moment its fair to say people aren't mentally prepared to watch a vertical video for a minute plus. Also in present no camera shoots vertical, the only way to do this is by taking a video by holding the camera vertically (which is hard I know) or shoot horizontally and then rotate it into vertically in post processing but this is another problem. Since 4k is still relatively new technology to have in DSLRs many people don't have 4k cameras to record, most if not all DSLRs shoot in 1080p and rotating a 1080p vertically starts to show grain and blurriness which causes an un pleasing viewing experienceand buying a new camera that does is expensive. Which may put off many people.

The viewership for IGTV has been on the decline and as someone who has tried to use the app I have also noticed a decrease in viewership each time I upload (hence why I stopped ??) As you can see in the image on the right 100%viewership does not last longer than 0-5 seconds and again this could be because of the fact that people are just not used to viewing a longer vertical video. If the same video was uploaded on YouTube for example I am sure the average percentage watched would have been higher.

In all I still feel IGTV has the ability to do well and I am still excited about the app as I heard about it for the first time but as any new startup it just needs time.

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