Instagram wants you watching IGTV, video previews coming to the main feed

Zac Hall | Feb 7 2019 - 9:09 am PT

Remember IGTV, Instagram’s long-form video feature and app? Neither does anyone else it seems. Instagram wants to fix that by putting more IGTV content in front of you when you’re using Instagram proper.

Variety reports that Instagram is making the change starting today:

“With IGTV previews in Feed, we’re making it even easier to discover and watch the latest video content from your favorite follows,” an Instagram rep said.

IGTV video will start to be mixed in with photos and videos posted to your main Instagram feed. Instagram hopes that these previews will catch your interest while you’re browsing your feed and boost IGTV views, but the obvious risk is just annoying users with spammy content and turning off users completely.

Instagram has already used prime real estate within the app to boost IGTV content, but this is easily the most aggressive Instagram has been about putting long-form videos in front of existing users. IGTV previews can also be seen above the main feed in the Stories section, around search on Explore, and there’s a direct link to the IGTV standalone app at the top of Instagram’s app.

IGTV launched last summer as a new format for the photo and video sharing social network, adding up to 10-minute-long vertical videos to the image and short video clip post options. Instagram believes IGTV has promise as a mobile-first video format that’s easy to use and curated by editors, but there’s still no monetization opportunity for creators. the vertical-only format also means videos can’t easily be cross-posted from YouTube or other video sharing platforms.

Irked by this change or just one more thing to scroll past? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Both Instagram and IGTV are available for free on the App Store.

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