Instagram is removing the IGTV shortcut button from the top right corner of the Facebook-owned app’s home screen, reports TechCrunch. First launched in June 2018, IGTV is Instagram’s long-form video service that was originally meant to rival the likes of YouTube.
Instagram says it decided to remove the button after discovering that relatively few people were tapping it. “Most people are finding IGTV content through previews in Feed, the IGTV channel in Explore, creators’ profiles and the standalone app,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch, “very few are clicking into the IGTV icon in the top right corner of the home screen in the Instagram app.”
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It’s a minor, but welcome change to Instagram’s interface as it’s one less thing vying for your attention. It does mean that users will now have to dig deeper into the app to find IGTV content. Of course, you can also download the standalone IGTV app, but data suggests that a relatively small proportion of Instagram’s billion-plus users have bothered to do so, in comparison with the millions that have downloaded rival video app TikTok.
The move is the latest sign that Instagram is de-prioritising IGTV as a distinct, standalone service. Last week, AdWeek reported that users can now post IGTV videos using the same video-upload interface as they use for their main feed.
Instagram has reportedly struggled to attract creators and users to IGTV since its launch. The service doesn’t offer the same revenue-share opportunities from ads as YouTube, and creators have previously said that brands haven’t offered the same sponsored content opportunities for IGTV content as they do for their main Instagram posts.