What you need to Know about IGTV, Instagram’s New Video Platform + App

#1 IGTV is Vertical Videos Only
Like we’ve said, IGTV is all about the vertical videos. Sure, you can technically upload a horizontal video to IGTV, but that’s not the best experience.
Here are two options of what horizontal video looks like on IGTV, @beamiller‘s is quickly edited to include a blurred background, and @jeffmindell‘s is the full horizontal video that you would rotate your phone to watch.

Vertical video makes it easy for anyone to feel like they can start creating, and instead of the pressure to create professional videos on a camera, vertical video naturally encourages you to record on your phone instead.
Vertical video also makes for a better mobile experience, because you don’t have to rotate your phone or just watch a smaller version. I don’t know about you, but I keep my phone locked to “portrait” mode, so every time I want to watch a YouTube video it’s seriously annoying!
Forcing you to create vertical videos is an innovative move from Instagram, but social media managers may not love it. Now, when you’re shooting video content, you will have to either shoot for two ratios, or make sure that you’re able to vertically crop the video. It means more editing, and you won’t be able to share the same video to all your social platforms.

Video has become an increasingly important skill in social media marketing, and now with the launch of IGTV, if you don’t know how to make or edit videos, you really need to learn…now!
#2 IGTV is like Youtube, Not Netflix
Even though you can upload videos up to 1 hour long on IGTV, don’t expect to be watching your favorite TV shows on it anytime soon.
The goal of IGTV is to be more like YouTube, and less like Netflix (after all, that’s what Facebook Watch is for). IGTV is meant more for following your favorite influencers or vloggers, instead of the Hollywood elite.
Instagram is trying to take a piece of YouTube and Snapchat’s pie by luring teen influencers like Bryce Xavier and Lele Pons over to IGTV, and many prominent social media + Youtube influencers were part of the IGTV launch.
“Instagram is focusing its efforts around web celebrities that made their name on mobile rather than more traditional, old-school publishers and TV studios that might come off too polished and processed,” notes TechCrunch.

“The idea is to let these creators, who have a knack for this style of content and who already have sizeable Instagram audiences, set the norms for what IGTV is about.”

This is good news for your business, because you don’t have to create a super polished video in order to upload it to IGTV! As far as production quality goes, think of it like a step up from your Instagram Stories, but it doesn’t have to be as perfect or curated like an Instagram post or video would be.
In fact, I wrote, shot, and edited Later’s first IGTV show in less than 5 hours, and I don’t really have any idea what I’m doing. You can just film on your phone, edit it in iMovie, and then upload it to your channel! And while we will definitely be creating some high quality IGTV videos, it really doesn’t have to be anything fancy if you don’t have the time.

#3 IGTV is an Addicting Mobile ExperienceEven though you won’t be seeing your favorite TV shows on IGTV, Instagram is trying to make the overall experience a lot like traditional TV.
Everyone who has an Instagram account can create their own IGTV “channel,” which is where all your IGTV videos will live (separate from your regular Instagram bio + Instagram Stories Highlights).
Just like when you turn the TV on and a show starts playing right away, when you open the IGTV app, a video will automatically start playing.
Viewers can like or comment on IGTV videos while they’re watching them, similar to how you can interact with Facebook videos.

Bored of watching the video? Just swipe to the side to move on to the next video.

Want more? Swipe up to search videos and view them by category, and it’s super easy to just scroll through videos from influencers and friends on Instagram.
Right now, there’s 3 IGTV categories: For You, Following, and Popular.

• “For You” is a collection of videos that Instagram thinks you will like, made up from people you follow and Instagram’s own machine learning.
• “Following” is a collection of videos from all the people on Instagram that you’re already following. Which is a good time to mention that if someone follows you on IGTV, they’ll be following your regular Instagram account too!
• “Popular” features all of the trending videos on IGTV, most likely ranked by popularity

There’s also a small hidden search bar that lets you search for videos, but Instagram is trying to curate the best videos for you within your social network and without you having to constantly search for the next video to watch.
Now that you understand more about how IGTV works, you’re ready to make your own channel and upload your first IGTV video!