Instagram removes the IGTV button, cites lack of usage as reason

Instagram, back in June 2019, had introduced the IGTV app for watching long-form and vertical videos. The company also integrated this feature in its main app using a TV icon on the app's top right corner. Now, less than a year later Instagram has decided to remove the button from the app.

Reason? Very few people were using the feature.

According to a report by TechCrunch, Instagram has decided to remove the IGTV icon from the main app as very few people from its user base of over 1 billion users were using it.

"...we've learned that most people are finding IGTV content through previews in Feed, the IGTV channel in Explore, creators' profiles and the stand-alone app. Very few are clicking into the IGTV icon in the top right corner of the home screen in the Instagram app...so we're removing this icon based on these learnings and feedback from our community," an Instagram spokesperson told the publication.

Notably, while the company has ditched the IGTV icon from the main app, the feature itself isn't going anywhere yet. Instagram users can still access the IGTV videos by tapping on the IGTV icon on the bottom left corner of a post in their Feeds. Alternatively, users can also visit their favourite creators' or friends' profile to watch IGTV videos by them.

Apart from the main app, users can also download Instagram's stand-alone IGTV app to watch long-form vertical videos by their friends and favourite creators.