Now that Instagram has introduced the new IGTV, the question remains if Influencers will ditch Youtube and put their focus on the new Instagram platform. With IGTV users can now upload videos up to 15 minutes in length. I have a few predictions on how things will unfold for both social media platforms and even an insider rumor.
My primary prediction is that IGTV will in-fact take a very larger number of influencers off of the Youtube platform and also encourage upcoming youtube users to rethink their video platform choices. Below are two main decided factors, as well as the types of influencers most likely to remain on Youtube and not make the switch.
1. IGTV is Shown in Portrait Mode
You might be thinking why is this a big deal? Unless you've ever spent hours editing together video footage, you are likely not going to understand why having the IGTV platform only show in portrait mode is so important. By only allowing videos to be shown in portrait mode, they are encouraging and even forcing influencers to only use their phones to take video. This supports the idea of more casual footage being acceptable. Now influencers can spend more time creating and less time editing fancy videos which can often be a tedious process. They can also save on expensive camera's, lenses and video editing software. Video editing apps can be found for free and also take only a few minutes to put together.
2. Rumor: IGTV Will Introduce Monetization for Influencers
Recently Youtube took away the ability for smaller influencers to be able to monetize their channels from paid advertisements. If IGTV introduces monetization for all of it's users I can almost guarantee that influencers will ditch Youtube and choose to invest their time building their IGTV channels.
So who is most likely to stay with their Youtube channels? Influencers who already have a very large following are going to be the most likely to continue providing content for Youtube, but the question remains. How will the viewership be on IGTV? After-all, a platform is only as good as the amount of users who use it. If Instagram Stories is any indication then I predict Instagram will make sure that its IGTV predecessor will be just as successful.