A look at IGTV's struggles and slow growth two months after launch as Instagram and content creators try to figure out how to make the longer video format work
‘Everything great starts small,’ says CEO — Instagram has never truly failed at anything, but judging by modest initial view counts … Tweets: @hoandesign , @glenngabe , @kjeldlindsted , @joshconstine , and @joshconstine . Thanks: @joshconstine Tweets: Hoan Do / @hoandesign : First thing they should do is cleaning all low quality videos, square videos and even rotate landscape videos from the IGTV feeds. Glenn Gabe / @glenngabe : A look at IGTV's struggles and slow growth 2 months after Instagram launched it. Not exactly like Instagram Stories... “It's a new format. It's different. We have to wait for people to adopt it and that takes time,” AKA “It's failing” https://glennga.be/2BPUHiY pic.twitter.com/dXf9fsBz6E Kjeld Lindsted / @kjeldlindsted : There are no views. #instagram in general lacks serendipity, #igtv is even worse. Shouldn't be in a separate app either, no incentive to go there as a viewer. https://techcrunch.com/... Josh Constine / @joshconstine : Without great content, Instagram users see IGTV as a distraction. The standalone app's ranking has dropped from #25 to #1497 and its install rate is down 94% and falling. 3/ http://twitter.com/... Josh Constine / @joshconstine : IGTV progress report: Stars are getting 6.8X more views in feed, installs have dropped 94%, and with no monetization it needs to rethink attracting creators http://techcrunch.com/... Tip @techmeme Thanks: @joshconstine
Context & Ripple Effects
Instagram launched IGTV in June as a hub for high-profile creators with uploads up to an hour long — a dramatic stretch beyond the 60-second ceiling it had only reached in 2016. Two months in, the numbers are ugly: view counts are modest, installs of the standalone app have collapsed, and there is no monetization to hold the creators the launch was built around.
The stumble was visible early — days after debut, coverage argued IGTV had ignored the moderation embarrassments of YouTube and Facebook (Bloomberg flagged the missed lessons on conspiracy content). CEO Kevin Systrom's framing that 'everything great starts small' now reads as a defense against exactly the traction problem this piece documents.
First-order effects
- High-profile creators recruited for the IGTV launch are producing hour-long videos into feeds with low view counts and no revenue share, so their incentive is to take that effort back to YouTube or stay within Instagram's proven one-minute format.
Second-order effects
- Instagram is forced into serial product concessions rather than organic growth — a year later it capitulates on format by adding landscape video after creator feedback, then keeps patching the app with discovery features and a redesigned homepage in 2020.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward Instagram abandoning bespoke long-form infrastructure altogether and folding video into the main feed via short-form Reels — which by 2021 triggers its own backlash from photo-first creatives complaining about engagement drops, showing the pivot trades one unhappy constituency for another.
The trend: Social platforms keep discovering that bolting a TV-style long-form product onto a feed-native audience fails, pushing them to chase short-form video instead — where the next round of creator friction begins.