Instagram's stand-alone vertical video app drops from the main app after just seven million downloads. Instagram, in an unidentified move, has removed the orange button that stays close to the user's direct messages just days after posting on its @creators account on how to use the function.
The creators' community of Instagram posted a detailed video on the account that they created in September to talk about the simple mechanism of posting a video in the IGTV platform. But, the whole situation was confusing as Instagram had removed the IGTV's icon from the main app.
Comparing notes with TikTok, Instagram's fresh move that began in 2018 has largely lagged behind in getting the user's attention. Is it not user-friendly enough or is it not what people want on Instagram?
Billions of users and IGTV has 7 million downloads
Instagram has been looking into the challenge that the downloads had posed to the social media company. Short videos of less than 60 seconds can be posted as a direct video in the main app, while any video longer than that can be earmarked for IGTV.
So far, IGTV has had 7 million downloads while the user base in the main Instagram app is more than 1 billion. On the other side, TikTok has been garnering more users with more user-friendly base as the structure for the app.
The IGTV has around 3.9-star rating on Google Play Store while Apple has given it around 4.0 as the rating. The mixed reviews observed in the reviews talk about features of uploading the video and various other issues. Instagram's main app has around 4.4 rating on the Play store while the App Store has given it a rating of 4.8 stars.
So where exactly has IGTV gone wrong?
TikTok has gained around 80 million users in the US alone and is still increasing in numbers as people have been enjoying the trendsetting app. The click in the main app is much less compared to what the app launchers believed would have been the result.
The Instagram spokesperson told Techcrunch through a mail that they are trying to keep the main app simple by removing the icon. "We always aim to keep Instagram as simple as possible, so we're removing this icon based on these learnings and feedback from our community."
Instagram believed the creation of this particular field would make it easier for the users and creators in making the content. But, the creators are not getting the return on their creation of art that they continue to do on the IGTV which has created a lot of sour comments about the application.
The users do not necessarily need the app to watch the IGTV videos as they are usually accessible from the main app itself. This has also created the surface problem of lesser downloads from the online store. With YouTube or Facebook Watch, the creators are able to get revenue with the art that they produce, but with the IGTV that doesn't seem to be an option.
The app developers are showing signs of blending IGTV more into the app rather than giving it a space to grow on its own.
