Instagram Really Wants You to Watch IGTV
Back in June 2018, Instagram launched a new platform called IGTV for long-form videos designed for mobile viewing. At first, Instagram got a lot of creators and influencers on the platform, but not a lot of people actually watched IGTV.
The company soon started injecting IGTV into Instagram itself, even going as far as dedicating a persistent button into the app’s main feed. The company also started notifying Instagram users with flashy IGTV notifications and also tested the idea of having a dedicated tab for IGTV content on profiles.
And if all this wasn’t enough, IGTV is now coming to your feed. Instagram today announced that IGTV creators will now be able to post previews of their IGTV videos as regular posts on your Instagram feed. You can watch the preview like a regular video, or watch the full video on IGTV with a single tap. These previews appear as regular posts within a profile, but they have the IGTV icon instead of the regular video icon.
Now, you can preview IGTV videos in your feed. When there’s a new video from someone you follow, you can tap from your feed to watch the full video in IGTV. (👋 @HannahStocking) pic.twitter.com/tkYSchB7E8
— Instagram (@instagram) February 7, 2019
“With IGTV previews in Feed, we’re making it even easier to discover and watch the latest video content from your favorite follows,” Instagram told Variety.
The feature itself isn’t too obnoxious since it is only showing content from people you actually want to follow, but it just highlights the lengths Instagram is willing to go to force users to use something. One of that includes a completely redesigned feed UX that the company mistakenly released late last year, and quickly removed after being hit with huge backlash from Instagram users.