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Instagram long-form videos reportedly launching today, with celebrity-led push

We heard earlier this month that Instagram was planning support for long-form videos of up to an hour, and a new report suggests that the feature will launch today, with a few more details emerging …

The latest report, also from TechCrunch, is that the new feature will be launched at an event in San Francisco at 9am Pacific.

TechCrunch has learned that the Instagram longer-form video hub that’s launching [today] is called IGTV and it will be part of the Explore tab, according to multiple sources.

The site reports that while videos of up to one hour will be allowed, the company is encouraging a target of ten minutes, with celebrities and other established content creators leading the way.

Instagram has spent the week meeting with online content creators to encourage them to prepare videos closer to 10-minute YouTube vlogs than the 1-minute maximum videos the app allows today.

The report says that Instagram isn’t looking for content that is ‘too polished’ in the traditional TV show mould, but rather hoping that new-style Internet creators will set a more modern tone.

It’s not yet clear whether the feature will be made immediately available to everyone on Instagram, or rolled out selectively initially.

Instagram is a free download from the App Store.


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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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