At an event held in San Fran Fransisco, Instagram has launched its IGTV app which will allow users to upload video content up to one hour. The limit of video content until now was set to one minute.
Long form vertical videos uploaded by celebrities and the general public will be available on a standalone platform named IGTV which can be accessed from inside the Instagram and has a dedicated app as well.
With the venture into long-form videos, Facebook-owned Instagram is ready to compete with popular video content platforms such as Youtube, Vimeo, etc.
Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s CEO said in the event,”Teens may be watching less TV, but they are watching more creators online,” and added, ” It’s time for video to move forward, and evolve.”
IGTV will not feature ads as of now, but Systrom explained that they would try to introduce a means to monetize the platform to pay off the creators of IGTV Videos for their hard work.
An official blog post by Instagram describes IGTV as a TV which can be turned on easily. Users can switch between “For You,” “Following,” “Popular,” and “Continue Watching” to discover videos on the platform. Also, you can like, comment on videos and share with your friends via DM.
The IGTV app will be available for Android and iOS devices by next week, announced Instagram.
With this announcement, Facebook’s stock spiked by 2.3% in regular trading making Mark Zuckerberg $1.7 billion richer in a day.
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