Should You Stick To YouTube OR Move To IGTV?
During this uncertain time, brands and creators everywhere are producing more content than ever and sharing it with their audiences. Now that Instagram has announced IGTV monetization, we’re all wondering whether we should be investing our time and money into producing content for this app, instead of a more traditional platform like YouTube.
On May 27, 2020 Instagram announced that it would soon introduce ads on IGTV, and support their creators by sharing the ad revenue with them.
“IGTV ads will initially appear when people click to watch IGTV videos from previews in their feed. The video ads will be built for mobile and up to 15 seconds long. We’ll test various experiences within IGTV ads throughout the year - such as the ability to skip an ad - to make sure the final result works well for people, creators and advertisers.”
In their announcement, Instagram stated they would be testing IGTV ads amongst a small group of creators and advertisers in the U.S. and expanding over time. Let’s take a look at some the current features of IGTV compared to YouTube:
IGTV Maximum Video Length: 15 Minutes Mobile - 60 Minutes Web
YouTube Maximum Video Length: 128GB or 12 hours, whichever is less
Vertical Video — Works With Both IGTV & YouTube
Horizontal Video — Works With Both IGTV & YouTube
Comments — Works With Both IGTV & YouTube
IGTV Viewers Can Share Content To Their Stories
IGTV Has “Series” + YouTube Has “Playlists”
Viewers Can Subscribe To A IGTV Series
IGTV Videos Show Up WAY Bigger On The Explore Page
All things considered, IGTV offers a lot of the same benefits and features that YouTube has been offering to creators for years. With that being said, the main benefit to IGTV in our opinion is:
All your brand’s content can be in the same place — no app switching required.
This means that your followers can scroll through their newsfeed, see a lifestyle product pic and a preview of your latest IGTV video in the same place. They’ll also be able to click direct links in your IGTV descriptions, which isn’t yet available for normal Instagram captions.
So, should you invest your time in creating content for IGTV?
YES, and the great news is that it doesn’t have to be a huge, expensive production!
Recording high quality videos from your iPhone is easier than ever, especially with all the apps that are now available to edit, create titles, captions etc. Check out this article from Later, “20 of the Best Mobile Video Editing Apps in 2020”. It’s a great resource for beginners and advanced creators.