Instagram IGTV Now Supports Landscape Videos

After listening to creator feedback, Instagram has finally decided to allow users to publish more than just vertical videos on its standalone offshoot, IGTV. Creators can now upload longform content shot in a landscape format.

In a blog, Instagram said IGTV now supports long-from content shot in landscape format, in addition to videos shot in a vertical format. This means IGTV users can now upload videos shot however they wanted to, and can also view any video whether their smartphones or tablets are in portrait or landscape mode.

Instagram said that while vertical video helps content creators get “up-close and personal with their audience,” it is not capable of doing things that only videos shot in a landscape orientation can do: “feature a handful of people in frame,” and show “dances and sports which are in high motion.”

The social media company arrived at this decision after listening to creators who said they want to upload landscape videos for IGTV, and viewers who said they want to watch existing landscape videos in a more “natural” way.

With this update, Instagram hopes to provide more room for content creators to exercise their creativity and express themselves however they want; and for app users to be able to watch the content they want to watch in a way that’s natural to them, even on their smartphones.

A risk

TechCrunch reported that Instagram took a huge risk in launching IGTV, a platform that allowed creators and users to upload videos longer than what the Instagram app allows, last year. All of these long-form videos, however, should be recorded in vertical format which, in effect, makes it best recorded and viewed using smartphones.

The Verge reported that because of IGTV’s vertical-only feature, the app has lagged behind the competition and had difficulty making an impact on the public. The Hollywood Reporter also said people weren’t interested in IGTV.

Not enough

Instagram tried to remedy IGTV’s relatively poor performance by allowing creators to post previews of their IGTV videos on Instagram. While this helped bring more people to IGTV, it wasn’t enough to make more creators want to use the app to publish the results of their creative, hard work -- especially because IGTV lacks one thing: monetization.

Some IGTV users told The Verge that they haven’t earned money from their IGTV content yet, as Instagram doesn’t have an ad placement service used to pay creators. Other platforms like YouTube allow creators to earn from their content. This alone is enough to discourage creators from working hard on something they won’t earn from.