At a time when short videos have had a remarkable boom on social networks, with TikTok as the clearest example of this, Instagram announces that it will no longer support the IGTV application – which will be removed from the Google and Apple app stores in mid-March – to focus on keeping all videos within its main application and focusing its efforts on Reels.
“We are exploring more ways to earn by creating Reels that entertain our community. In addition to bonuses, later this year we will begin testing a new ad experience on Instagram, which will allow creators to earn revenue from ads displayed on Reels,” Instagram said in a statement announcing its decision to phase out. the IGTV app.
IGTV was announced in 2018 as a standalone app that was set to compete with YouTube.and where they could be shared videos in vertical format with durations between 15 seconds and one hour. The idea was that it would function as a television channel (hence its name) created by the same Instagram users.
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However, IGTV never managed to take off or position itself among Instagram users. According to Sensor Tower, its maximum peak of users was 7 million, which is very little, considering that Instagram has more than 1,000 million users. Thus, little by little the company began to abandon the project.
Since 2020, Instagram removed the button that led to IGTV content from its main application, since very few people used it; October of last year was when IGTV had its last relevant update; and at the end of the year, the company announced that IGTV would change its name to “Instagram TV”.
In its statement, Instagram says it decided to remove the standalone IGTV app as part of its efforts to “make video as simple as possible to discover and create.” It further adds that any video in the main app will have a screen viewer. full and one tap to mute, and that Instagram is working consistently to share video posts or Reels.
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The company also plans to “test a new ad experience on Instagram, which will allow creators to monetize ads displayed on their Reels” later this year.
For In-Stream ads inserted into IGTV videos longer than one minute, Instagram assured that those who still monetize with these ads will receive a temporary monthly payment as compensation.so creators are encouraged to migrate to Reels, where they will have more monetization options.