Instagram shared that it has reached one billion daily users on its main app. The company also announced a new app called IGTV, designed for longer videos and populated with famous Instagram content creators.
The one billion count is an increase from the 800 million number announced in October last year. Commenting on this, CEO Kevin Systrom said that “Instagram is now a global community of one billion! Since our launch in 2010, we’ve watched with amazement as the community has flourished and grown. This is a major accomplishment — so from all of us at Instagram, thank you!”
At the same time, Instagram has introduced its new long-form video app called IGTV. The company is calling the app as “a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favourite Instagram creators.” As the app is still new, the number of content available for viewing is still limited, but it is expected to grow as time progresses.
What makes this app different than Youtube is the native support for vertical videos as opposed to landscape video. Users will have access to comments, related content and other features taken from Instagram on IGTV. Some content is viewable on the Instagram app, but only for selected content creators. As for now IGTV is ad-free, but companies are sure to make use of this new streaming platform for targeted ads pretty soon.
(Source: The Verge, PhoneArena)
