The New Instagram IGTV Arrives Today: Long-Form Video of Up To 60 Minutes

Instagram’s attempt to compete directly with YouTube is coming today – say hello to IGTV! The big announcement comes at a celebratory moment in Instagram’s history as they just crossed into being a global community of 1 billion. They announced both of these things at an event in San Francisco. Let's see what they both mean for the company.

Instagram presents IGTV

Instagram introduced an update that is historic for them – IGTV. This exciting feature will allow for long-form, vertical videos to be created by your favorite Instagram users. The videos can be up to 60 minutes long, which is a big jump from Instagram’s current 60-second limit;

“Just like turning on the TV, IGTV starts playing as soon as you open the app. While there’s a stand-alone IGTV app, you’ll also be able to watch from within the Instagram app so the entire community of one billion can use it from the very start.”

This statement came in a press release from Kevin Systrom, the Co-founder and CEO of Instagram.

Instagram launched a separate app called “IGTV” to support its long-form videos and enable a seamless user experience. The focus will transcend the traditional TV-like experience and lean towards raw content produced by Instagram creators in a more amateurish manner. Instagram notes that younger audiences spend more time with amateur-created content than with professionals, and that’s exactly what they want to utilize.

IGTV: Video re-imagined for mobile

IGTV is going to offer a different way of watching videos. It’s built for how you actually use your phone, so videos will be full screen and vertical. Each video can be up to 1-hour long, and the videos will start playing as soon as you open the app.

SCOOP: Instagram launching Snapchat-like vertical video TODAY

Video length: 15s to 60 mins
File size: upto 3.6GB
File type: .MP4
Video size: 9:16
Video thumbnail / cover image: .JPG

Likely to be officially launched @ 6pm UK (Wed 20 June) pic.twitter.com/bEcMp9fLjG

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 20, 2018

Instagram notes that, like TV, Instagram also has channels. With the main difference being that those channels are actually creators. Once you follow a creator on Instagram, their IGTV channel will show up on your feed. IGTV will be rolling out globally over the next couple of weeks on iOS and Android.

Instagram IGTV requirements

I reckon many of you are already excited about the endless possibilities that IGTV offers, content-wise. Here are the requirements for uploading videos to IGTV:

• Video length: Videos have to range from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Note that larger and verified accounts can upload videos up to 60 minutes, but they have to be uploaded from a computer.
• Video file type: All videos must be in MP4 file format.
• Aspect ratio: Videos should be in vertical with a minimum aspect ratio of 4:5 and maximum of 9:16.
• Video size: The maximum size for videos that are up to 10 minutes long is 650MB. The maximum file size for videos that are up to 60 minutes is 5.4GB.
• Video content: All videos must comply with the Community Guidelines.

This means that the video content shouldn’t include spam, hate speech, or any kind of disturbing material. You can find videos you’re interested in from channels like For You, Following, and Popular.

Start your IGTV journey by creating a channel

Before you can upload videos to IGTV, you need to create a channel. The channel is the place where your followers can watch the videos you upload. Here’s how you can create an IGTV channel.

From the Instagram app or the IGTV app:

1. Tap the “TV” symbol in the right top of the feed, or open the IGTV app.
2. Tap the “Settings” symbol, go to “Create Channel” and follow the instructions.

On the web over at Instagram.com:

1. Open your web browser and visit Instagram.com.
2. Go to your profile and click on IGTV.
3. Select the “Create Channel” option and follow the instructions.

Note that your IGTV is connected to your Instagram account, therefore it follows the privacy settings you set for the account. Once you have created the channel, you can start uploading videos.

Instagram making tremendous progress

Instagram is growing in an amazing fashion. It doesn't look like the Facebook-owned giant is stopping any time soon.

Today we announced two exciting things: (1) we just crossed 1 billion monthly actives on Instagram and (2) the launch of IGTV, our latest product. IGTV is video, re-imagined for mobile; long-form vertical video from the creators you love. While all these creators are on Instagram, they’ve yet to be able to share longer videos with their fans on IG. Today that changes with IGTV. We’re excited to make this available to all one billion of you!

A post shared by Kevin Systrom (@kevin) on Jun 20, 2018 at 2:37pm PDT

Other than the launch of IGTV, which is the most exciting feature released by Instagram to date, there are other notable updates that were released in the last few months:

• Instagram Story Shopping
• Instagram Story @mention sharing
• Instagram mute profile
• Instagram Story video stickers

As you can see, Instagram is dedicated to creating a top platform for its users to have the best user experience. Nothing less is expected from a 1 billion global community. It’s up to Instagram to keep its status as a top platform, and it seems like they’re doing a pretty good job so far – 1 billion users can't be wrong!

Date: June 21, 2018 / Categories: Apps, Video, / Author: Rich Drees