Instagram’s CEO Kevin Systrom while launching IGTV said: “it’s time for videos to move forward and evolve”. Hence we have the ingenious IGTV, a long format video app built for high-quality vertical videos for up to 60 seconds which apart from being accessible from your Instagram home screen, also presents itself as a standalone application. Born as a simple photo-sharing platform, the shift to housing videos happened in 2013 and now five years past that, we see Instagram getting real serious in the video format. The app gives an opportunity to creators, new, flourishing, or established, to build, expand and maintain their consumer base. At the moment, the ability to upload hour-long videos lies with everyone except smaller and new accounts. However, the eventual expansion of that section to be inclusive of all creators is destined. All set to take on its nemesis Youtube, the jump from a minute to an hour is giant and enough to challenge the rival’s dominance. However, it’ll be riveting to see whether or not the platform is able to take the lesson from the shortcomings of its rivals. When it comes to Youtube, the constantly changing rules and algorithms have manifested themselves as rather problematic and challenging for those making a living out of it. The video hub offers users the choice of either swiping through the videos or swipe up to browse specific videos. 
A brief weigh-up – 

1.     Close(r) IGTV is all about putting on display all dimensions of your business. Being able to move beyond the boundaries of length can prove to be extremely liberating for creators.  The bottom line is longer videos, hence detailed storytelling and therefore, better connections.

2.    Upright? Right! The idea is to work like the regular TV but with vertical videos. With the new vertical format, the platform is betting that people want vertical videos. Factors of the new format being a more natural fit in the palm and quickness of use seem to work to its advantage. 

3.    Commercials coming soon To quote the CEO, “There are no ads on IGTV right now but it’s a very reasonable place for them to end up.” This is in contrast with what its competitor, Facebook, did to jumpstart the rather not very successful, Facebook Watch Video Hub.  Money makes the mare go and for IGTV to be a sustainable option for content creators, the factor of monetization is crucial.