Instagram has quietly removed a button that was previously at the top of people’s feeds, which led people to IGTV. The button was located at the top right corner of the app right next to the direct message arrow (or paper airplane, as I have always called it).

It was VERY quiet, and hardly anyone noticed until TechCrunch pointed it out.

IGTV launched in June 2018, as the apps effort to compete with YouTube. Their advantage being the ability to post vertical long form videos unlike YouTube. There was a lot of buzz around the launch, but it never really picked up traction.

A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement, “As we’ve continued to work on making it easier for people to create and discover IGTV content, we’ve learned that most people are finding IGTV content through previews in Feed, the IGTV channel in Explore, creators’ profiles and the standalone app. Very few are clicking into the IGTV icon in the top right corner of the home screen in the Instagram app… 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.“

Instagrams IGTV has not really taken off as they had hoped. I forsee the feature being transformed into something else or completely erased from the app in the future. However, IGTV content will continue to be viewable on the standalone app, in people’s feeds, and through the IGTV button on the Explore page.

As far as video is concerned YouTube remains video creators platform of choice, as they have the ability to monetize with ads. Something that Instagram does not offer creators directly.

According to TechCrunch, IGTV only recieved 6 million downloads; while TikTok received 1.15 billion downloads in the same period since IGTV launched in June 2018. To give Instagram credit, TikTok spent a massive amount on marketing efforts, including paying influencers to promote the platform.

What do you think? Is this the first step towards deleting IGTV all together?