On 3 September, Instagram finally released its iPad app after a 15-year wait, with Reels as a key feature. Although this change has long been expected, many people are wondering why it happened now.
Reels at the Heart of Instagram’s iPad Strategy
Instagram is attempting to compete with TikTok in a market where short-form video content is king. Reels will be the main focus of the iPad app, but will it be sufficient to challenge TikTok’s overwhelming lead? Despite being much anticipated, the Instagram app is only compatible with iPads running iPadOS 15.1 or later.
Key Offerings of the App
With a multi-column interface that makes it simpler to browse comments, navigate between sections, and scroll through Reels, the redesigned app fully utilises the iPad’s larger screen. Reels take centre stage, but direct texting and story access are still simple.
Instagram’s focus on video content is a clear attempt to appeal to consumers who enjoy dynamic, fast-paced experiences. Initial evaluations emphasise the app’s wide design and easy usability, but some detractors have voiced worries that the emphasis on Reels may turn off users who enjoyed Instagram’s beginnings as a photo-sharing platform.
The transition to a video-first platform has generated conflicting responses from long-time Instagram users. Some audiences feel cut off from Instagram’s beginnings as a photo-sharing service, while younger audiences might welcome the shift with open arms.
Constant Evolution is the Key to Instagram’s Success
In the future, Instagram’s success will rely on how it develops further. Although the iPad app is a start in the right direction, Instagram will need to keep up with TikTok’s quick expansion. Reels’ picture-in-picture mode is one feature that might increase user engagement, but it’s unclear if these changes will be sufficient to influence users.
The capacity of Instagram to change without losing its recognisable character as a photo-sharing platform will determine its destiny. The platform will need to figure out how to differentiate itself in the congested video industry without losing its initial appeal as it becomes more video-focused. It remains to be seen whether Instagram can establish a significant niche or if it can keep up its fight against TikTok’s hegemony.
According to Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, his team is delivering Instagram to the iPad. “I’m really excited about this one because we took the time to design for the bigger screen.” He went on to say that although users will see all of the Instagram content they are used to, the business has made Reels stand out by utilising the additional space and created a following tab that makes it simple for users to keep up with all of the posts from the persons they follow.
Quick
Shots
•The
app puts Reels at the center to directly challenge TikTok’s dominance in
short-form video.
•Works
only on iPads running iPadOS 15.1 or later.
•Multi-column
interface for easier browsing.
•Reels,
direct messaging, and Stories remain easily accessible.
The arrival of TikTok has increased the craze for making short-form videos worldwide. Short video platforms are on the trend. TikTok was the most used Short Video Platform in India which had been downloaded over 611 million times. Ever since it got banned in India on June 29, 2020, over national security issues, after a fallout between both the country. To fill up the gap TikTok left, there has been an onslaught of new short-video platforms. Instagram launched “Reels” immediately after TikTok got eliminated from India.
There are various short-video platforms that have entered the market like Josh, Moj, MX Taka Tak and many more and they are growing exponentially. The reason is that the mobile data price has dropped since the arrival of Jio. And also, android phones with good cameras are available for a reasonable price which led to an increase in the consumption and creation of short video content in India.
Age Group of short video platform users
Now, anyone with a good internet connection and a good camera phone can create and upload short video content. The short video platforms have a wide range of business models and the way of making money differs from one company to another. Moreover, these platforms provide free services to their user which require experiments with the business model. In this article, we will talk about how short video platforms make money. So, let’s get started.
85% of Marketers consider Short-Video Platforms as the most-effective medium for Brand Promotion
Short Videos are enjoyed by people scrolling on social media. Be it Reels on Instagram or TikTok videos, if it’s entertaining it’s bound to catch your attention. There are many brands that introduce challenges in this video platform and ask people to participate. The brand gives money to the platform to introduce the challenge, this way the promotion is done, and people get to interact with the brand while doing the challenge, and thus their work is done.
How to use video content for marketing?
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is another way of earning money for the Short Video platforms. Many companies willingly sponsor short video apps to reach the masses. As these videos are watched by people in bulk, sponsoring them is beneficial for the company to be known by a large number of people who can be their potential customers. It is a win-win situation for both the platform and the sponsor as the platform gets to earn money through it.
Affiliate Marketing
Brands give money to the platform for Affiliate marketing. Here, the platform has to present a video regarding the product of that brand where all information about it has been provided in the video. As people are now attracted to videos more, affiliate marketing helps brands to increase their sales. Thus, nowadays some companies are taking the support of short video platforms and are using them for affiliate marketing.
Collaboration
Whenever there is a new film or a music video is going to be released, the stars or the singers collaborated with the video platforms. This way they get to promote their films or music videos whatever it is and can be presented to many people. Collaboration brings money to the short video platforms and thus it is one way to earn.
In this type of business model, a customer normally pays a one-time fee or rents it to watch videos or live events. It is more commonly known as pay-per-view. This helps you to choose the entertainment videos you want to watch; you can just pay for the content you require and that increases the popularity of this model. It is considered cost-effective as you can choose what type of entertainment you want to watch rather than subscribing to everything in bulk.
TVOD helps to concentrate and offer content to a specific market. You won’t be getting unwanted or unrelated video suggestions and would receive video suggestions according to your likes.
You can find video platforms like YouTube or Instagram using this method to suggest videos. The platforms would keep a track of your activities and give you suggestions on content according to your choice.
That’s the reason most of the time you would be able to find the content according to your choice. The only difference is that you can view videos and content for free on these video platforms.
Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD)
In this subscription-based model, a customer will have to pay an amount monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Through the subscription model, you will be able to view an unlimited amount of content on their platform along with the recently released content.
There will be different subscription models. The services you receive would be better as you pick the most premium version of the models.
The main difference between different subscription models would be that there would be a difference in the prices. Also, you would be getting added services and certain advantages. Most of the time, the in-demand videos would be available for premium subscribers.
This Revenue model is mostly followed by major OTT platforms such as Netflix, YouTube and many more. The subscription model of YouTube is known as YouTube Premium. The main advantage here is that you can choose what you want to watch on these platforms.
Ad-supported Video on Demand (AVOD)
In this model, a customer can view the content for free. It is a platform where you can view the content for free but would receive ads in between your content. The platforms get their major revenue from the ads.
The platform would charge different rates from the advertisers according to what time they would want to play their ad. For example, an ad played at the beginning of the video would cost more than the ad played at the end of the video. The main example of this type of model is YouTube.
On certain platforms like YouTube, even the content creators would receive a specific amount for the ads being played in between their videos. This would encourage the content creators to make and promote more of their content which will indirectly improve the financial position of the platform as well as the content creators.
This is the type of business model normally adopted by companies that want to increase their reach. It is a combination of all the above methods. The platform would want a customer to view it for free at the beginning where they would play some video ads and later convert the customers into the subscription model or transactional video model.
The company would generate revenue from the beginning stage and it would attract a lot of customers as well. This model would provide the customers with a lot of options to choose from. You would be able to choose the model you prefer according to your budget or your likes.
Conclusion
Number of Active Users of Short Video Platforms in India
The demand for short video platforms would keep on increasing in the coming years. The number of active users on Short-video platforms is expected to reach over 650 million by 2025. We would be able to see a lot of content creators and a lot of viral videos being uploaded. With the ban of TikTok in India, there are a lot of new apps coming up along with new features such as Reels, introduced by Instagram to promote short video content.
YouTube has become a platform where people create content as a full-time profession. Short video platforms are going to flourish in the coming future as the entertainment industry is gaining popularity.
FAQs
What is the Business Model of TikTok?
TikTok primarily gains its revenue through advertising.
Which countries have banned TikTok?
TikTok is banned in India and Pakistan only. Though Bangladesh, the United States and Indonesia have attempted a ban on TikTok but later lifted it.
Why is TikTok banned in India?
The Indian government in a statement stated that the decision to ban the app was “to protect the data and privacy of its 1.38 billion citizens”.
Which is the best platform for short videos?
The best platform for short videos based on its features are as follows:-
Instagram
TikTok
Moj
Josh
Likee
Taka Tak
Snapchat
YouTube Shorts
Dubsmash
Which short video app is best to earn money?
The best short video app to earn money are as follows:-
Facebook Inc is a social media giant which is based in the United States of America. The social media platform is available in around 111 languages and has a presence in almost every country around the globe. It was launched in the year 2004 and has around 2.8 billion monthly active users.
Facebook acquired Instagram in the year 2012. Instagram was founded in the year 2010 as a photo and video sharing platform. As of 2021, Instagram has around 1.074 billion users worldwide. The 71% of the users of Instagram is expected to be below the age of 35.
Instagram had introduced a new feature called Reels videos which is a short video sharing feature in the platform. Reels videos had gained a lot of popularity in India as it was introduced at the right time when the most popular short video platform in the country TikTok was banned by the government.
The growth of the short video feature Reels videos has let Facebook to take the next step in monetizing Instagram Reels. From Ads in Instagram Reels to introduction of new features like Sticker Ads, Let’s look at how Facebook is planning to monetize its Instagram Reels Videos platform.
On 22 April 2021, Facebook Inc had announced that it is planning to start testing the ads in its Instagram platform in the reels section. In the first stage, Facebook said it will concentrate on the countries such as Australia, Germany, Brazil and India.
It will be a step taken by Facebook to generate revenue from its short video platform. India is considered to be one of their fast-growing social media platforms and this is a step taken by Facebook to try to capitalize on its popularity in India.
Instagram Reels
Carolyn Everson, the Vice President of Facebook’s global business group said in an interview that the introduction of ads is an indication of how strong momentum Facebook has for its Reels platform in the country. However, Carolyn Everson did not share any usage metrics of the Reels.
Facebook had said that compared to other contents, The Ads on Reels are planned to be as long as up to 30 seconds and the users will have an additional feature that will let them skip the Ads according to their choice.
On 22 April 2021, Facebook had also announced that it will let the advertisers to select video content based on certain categories on which they would want to place their ads on. Some of the categories would include fitness and health, videos for children, animals and pets, workouts, etc.
Carolyn Everson says that this step from Facebook is a big deal for the marketers.
In India, Facebook has plans to test various other features and one among them would be to provide a feature for the content creators to share their Reels videos on their Facebook accounts as well.
Facebook also has plans to introduce a new feature and begin the testing of it. The new feature of Facebook is Sticker Ads for the stories posted on Facebook. The social media giant has plans to introduce and test this feature in the coming weeks.
Sticker Ads will let the brands to create a sticker that will be based on their product or anything related to the brand. The influencers or social media promoters will be able to place those stickers on their story. Any sales which are made through these sticker Ads placed by the influencers can be claimed by them to get a percentage of the sales.
This new feature will be a strategy by Facebook to provide a platform for the influencers and social media content creators to earn money directly from their fans and followers. It is similar to the way the influencers and social media creators are making money through the platforms such as Clubhouse which is an audio chat app and Patreon which is a membership site.
Advertisers commonly use Facebook to help them target their market based on their interests. The platform helps them find their target market. This new feature will be a great effort from Facebook’s side to let the brands advertise their contents along with creating them. This will be considered as one of the biggest moves by the social media giant.
We will be able to see a lot more newer features that will be introduced by Facebook in a short period of time. This is one of the first steps taken by Facebook to help and improve the brands and the influencers in their platform.
TikTok was one of the most popular social media platforms in India until it was banned with 58 other Chinese mobile applications by the Government of India. The ban of TikTok has led to the creation and popularity of many other similar apps that allow users to create short entertaining videos such as ‘Mitron’. Instagram, the biggest and most popular social media platform in India has also joined this competition. Instagram has rolled out a new feature on its application – Instagram Reels, which will allow users to make 15-second videos similar to TikTok.
Instagram has made this feature available on its app from 7:30 PM today. Since the feature is still in its testing period, it will not be available to all users. Users will be available to create short videos of 15 seconds and apply various features and effects. The Reels feature has already been rolled out for testing in 3 countries: Brazil, Germany, and France. Therefore, India becomes the fourth country in which Instagram is rolling out the Reels feature.
Instagram Launches Reels To Rival TikTok
How To Use Reel On Instagram?
Update the Instagram app.
Open the Instagram Camera
There you will see the Reel option among other option such as Live, Story, and Boomerang. Choose the Reel option.
Creating a Reel video is very much similar to creating a Tiktok video. You can select a song from Instagram music that you want in your video. You can also choose the part or duration of the song you wish in your video.
You can also adjust the speed of your video to give slow motion and fast effects to the video. You can choose from 0.3x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 3x.
In the effects option, you can add different effects and filters to your video.
Next is the Timer button which allows you to choose the length of your video. You can record a video of any duration with 15 seconds being the maximum.
You can also trim a video after shooting it. You can remove the parts you don’t want in the final video.
You can edit your Reel video just like on Tiktok and they will appear on the Explore Page
After shooting the video, you can add text and stickers in the video or even draw something in the video. It is just like customizing a story on Instagram.
There are different options for sharing your Reel video. You can share it as a story which as usual remains for 24 hours. Or you can share the video directly to a friend. You can also share the video on your personal feed where it will remain forever and all of your followers will be able to see it. Or you can share it in the explore section where it will appear with Reel videos from other users if you have a public account.
If you go to the explore section on Instagram, you will find the Reel section where Reel videos from different users are available to watch. If you like an audio/song in someone’s Reel video, you can use that audio or song in your video simply by touching on the ‘Use Audio’ button.
This new Reels Feature on Instagram will help people to display their creativeness and use it to spread a message. The Reel feature is almost the same as TikTok, so if you have used TikTok before, you will find no difficulties in using Reel. Many people in India used TikTok and they were very disappointed when it was banned. They will now be able to create the same type of videos and content on Instagram which will be beneficial for them as well as for Instagram. You can use this new feature for reaching out to a wide audience on Instagram. If you have a public account you can share it in the explore section which shows public posts from all around the world.
