IGTV vs. YouTube

The preference for video content on social media continues to grow, also in 2019. By 2020, 82% of all consumer web traffic will be video. Although YouTube is still the largest platform for video content, IGTV is getting increasingly popular. Both platforms have their benefits, but which one is best for you? Learn more in this article.

IGTV vs. YouTube: How do you choose the right platform for your next campaign?

In order to determine which platform to use for your marketing campaign, you need to answer a few questions for yourself:

  • Relevance: on which channel is your target group most active?
  • Reach: can you reach enough people on the platform with an influencer?
  • What makes YouTube the right match for your influencer marketing campaign?
  • What makes IG the right match for your influencer marketing campaign?

Features of YouTube

YouTube is all about sharing informative and entertaining content. With 30 million daily users and 5 billion videos viewed every day, YouTube is a great choice if you want to share valuable content.

It has a better search function than IGTV as YouTube not only has a wider range of content, but it is also focused on SEO. So if you want your video to score in search engines, you’d better use YouTube.

Benefits of YouTube

  • More formats possible: AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4 and other common file formats.
  • It’s easier to find content.
  • If you have more than 1000 subscribers and more than 4000 hours of views, you can monetize your YouTube channel with Google Adsense. This is not possible on IGTV yet.
  • YouTube has better analytics.

Features of IGTV

In many aspects, IGTV is still far behind YouTube. IGTV is mainly focused on appearance and attractive visual content. It’s different from YouTube, where the content of the videos is more important than the visuals. 

In contrast to YouTube, viewers on IGTV are channel-surfing. This is partly due to the fact that videos on IGTV play automatically. People don’t consciously click on play (as they do on YouTube), so they often swipe away if they’re not interested. Also, videos between two and five minutes are the most popular. So the content you create for IGTV must be dynamic, fast-paced and beautiful enough to attract attention.

Benefits of IGTV

  • Targeted at mobile.
  • Direct connection with your (or an influencer’s) Instagram followers.
  • Followers are automatically subscribed to IGTV.
  • Automatic playback of videos in Insta-feed.
  • Perfect for beautiful, fast-paced and non-vocal visuals & videos.

Extensive tutorials on IGTV will not attract many views. But if your goal is to increase engagement with your or an influencer’s Instagram followers, then IGTV is a top choice. Of course, using IGTV can be a great addition to your content on YouTube.

Conclusion

Both platforms have their pros and cons, but the most important thing is that you choose a platform that best fits your marketing campaign.