Instagram Launches App For Creators

Instagram is launching IGTV today, a new service which will allow users to upload videos of up to 1 hour in length. IGTV will be available through the Instagram home screen or as a standalone app and will put Instagram in direct competition with YouTube.  Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million daily users, and is growing at around 5 percent a quarter. Described as the next evolution for video, the IGTV app will begin to roll out today globally on iOS and Android.

IGTV will allow everyone except new or smaller accounts to upload videos and become a creator, with that ability expanding eventually to include all accounts. Creators will be able to build Instagram Channels of different videos that other users will be able to subscribe to. IGTV will initially launch without advertising, but it is widely expected that ads will be added eventually. Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom also explained that IGTV may look to share revenue with video creators in the future.

IGTV is the second effort this week from Facebook that targets luring users away from YouTube after Facebook itself opened up the ability to make money off the Facebook app on Tuesday. 

Instagram was founded in 2010 and was soon bought by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion. It began as a photo-sharing platform but added messaging and video (short) features as it grew in popularity. 

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