IGTV goes the way of Vine

IGTV is officially going away. Instagram announced on March 28th that they would end support for the app and pull it from the Apple and Google Play Stores. If you go, “What is IGTV?” Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. It never caught on with brands or the general public.

When it was launched in 2018, these were the goals:

Mobile first: Instagram Video is built for how you actually use your phone: vertical and full screen.

Simple and intuitive: It starts playing as soon as you open the app. You don’t have to search or browse to get started, and it’s easy to multitask.

Curated: Instagram Video is focused on the creators you love most and already follow on Instagram.

Anyone can be a creator on Instagram Video and upload videos in the app or on the web.

Here are the issues with IGTV.

  • There were already many places to do video – such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and it was start of the rise of TikTok. (Launched in 2016 but didnt’ take off till late 2017 after it aquired musically).
  • Instagram’s video plans were confussing – first, you could post videos on your feed in IG. It expanded with going live and storie (to compete with TikTok and SnapChat). as well. It was a little disjointed and kind of all over the place. No one wanted to post mutiple videos.
  • Vertical Video – It was a little ahead of it’s time with Vertical video. First, all videos had to be vertical but they changed that a few months in to allow square and horizontal video.
  • Seperate App – This is one thing that I think did it in the most. IGTV was a sperate app. No one, myself included wants to have one app for a service and then hae to download another app to access new services and features. It should have been included in the regular app from the start.

So long IGTV, another long list of social media apps that have gone to the app graveyard.

Tim is the founder of Element33. A social media agency specializing in education, management and strategy for small businesses. He comes from a traditional marketing agency but has embraced all things digital. He considers himself a marketing nerd and believes that all marketing is tied together. This means no matter what silo you are in, social, email, seach, etc, changes in one will affect the other!

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