Instagram Redesigns IGTV With Creators As The Focus

Instagram is updating its IGTV app today, likely in the hopes of getting more people to use the service and promote creators making longform videos. The company tells The Verge today that it’s completely redesigned the homepage to feature a creator up top, tailored to each user based on who they follow and whose content the app thinks might be interesting to them. The app is also getting a Discover tab to surface new and relevant IGTV content as well as a hands-free recording mode. The Discover tab might be the biggest update, given that the app currently only displays videos from people who users already follow as well as “popular” videos. The app is bare and requires people to tap into content to start watching. A discover tab could get them to content faster and encourage them to actually use the app. The company’s also issuing a small but likely impactful update to the Instagram app; users can post their IGTV content in their Stories, and instead of a freeze-frame, 15 seconds of content will play. This could get people to click through and watch the full video, thereby giving creators more views. Read more at The Verge.