Instagram did not stop after taking on Snapchat with their short-formed stories, but instead aimed to conquer YouTube's throne as well. This new feature created some questions in regards to what type of content we publish, and how can brands benefit from this? Generally speaking, IGTV is one of the major announcements made in the social scenery and it is expected to have marvelous effects on brands and agencies, and content creators. IGTV could even affect how users are watching video.
IGTV's alluring and engaging format (vertical video format; which is impeccable for the mobile-only platform as most users prefer to watch videos without having to rotate their phones) has taken part in the success of Stories on Instagram. New opportunities will rise if Instagram manages to maintain a high engagement on IGTV.
How brands benefit from all of this?
A brand's fan base is not affected while using IGTV! A user does not necessarily have to be following you in order to find you in IGTV but rather through 'videos for you tab', 'popular' tab, previous engagement, and based on what people are watching.
The emphasis on mobile-first vertical video is very significant these days, and now that IGTV is in the equation, the adoption of this format is a must. Therefore, some brands may have to shoot their video for two ratios or in a way that could possibly be cropped vertically. IGTV could be a very good platform to introduce product catalogs in a more natural way, where the audience can take action and even shop on a brand's channel. Unlike Instagram's posts, IGTV's uploaded videos can include links in the description. Still, the best feature on IGTV is using showroom links for the audience to directly shop when watching a video.
Since IGTV is a reflection of the future, hosting influencers on a brand's channel is another way for increasing the brand's viewership and engagement, this will surely lead to further partnerships when considering new content for the channel. If those Influencers want to sustain and even increase their overall engagement, they would have to take into consideration creating more echoing content. IGTV is very important for influencers, hence it plays a part in making it actually happen. And it is the new platform of mobile vlogging while we leave YouTube for traditional vlogging.
Set an audience match to see the percentage of each creator's audience that matches yours.
Choose any creator or group of creators and find others with similar audiences.
Explore customized lists of creators based on your past branded content partners, creators who like your Page and more.
Email creators and start a conversation about collaborating.
So, partnerships or sponsorships between creators and brands may become the new mantra on IGTV.
In addition, the possibility of including in-stream ads, which will make it even harder for YouTube to compete. Providing interstitial, in-stream, or non-skippable ads can affect a product's success, and provide content creators with revenue at the same time.
To sum up, IGTV could provide great opportunities for both brand and content creators to grow and succeed, the next question is, will IGTV form a new generation of social influential rather than mere brand ambassadors?