Looking back, Instagram’s launch of IGTV in 2018 was both incredibly forward thinking and incredibly silly as well. A year or two after its launch, TikTok became incredibly popular but having to leave Instagram to watch content was a weird move.

Since the launch of IGTV, Instagram has moved on to Reels, a TikTok equivalent in terms of time restrictions, that lives on Instagram rather than a separate app.

While Instagram did try to merge IGTV and Instagram feed videos, it appears one of those isn’t worth the effort. As such, Instagram announced it its ending support for IGTV.

“As part of our efforts to make video as simple as possible to discover and create, we will no longer be supporting our standalone app for IGTV. Instead, we will focus on having all video on the main Instagram app. We believe that this makes it easier for people to have all of these features and abilities in the main app, and are excited to continue to simplify and improve video in the main Instagram app over the coming months,” Instagram wrote in a blog post on Monday.

Consolidating video into one stream is a move that makes sense but the change up will mean that how creators monetise their content is changing. IGTV ads are being retired and replacing them are in-stream video ads. For creators who have been reliant on IGTV ads, Instagram will provide a temporary monthly payment from the in-stream video ads fund based on a creator’s recent earnings.

“We’re exploring more ways for you to earn by creating reels that entertain our community. In addition to bonuses, later this year we will begin testing a new ad experience on Instagram, which will allow creators to earn revenue from ads displayed on their reels,” Instagram said.

Meta is well aware of TikTok’s dominance in the market and consolidating its Instagram videos into one space is a move that makes sense. It also makes sense from a business sense.

During its most recent earnings call Meta’s chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, noted that the firm believes that short-form video will be monetised similarly to how Facebook monetises the news feed.

Reels is Meta’s fastest growing content format and it is increasing engagement on Instagram.

“So looking ahead, we’re investing in simplifying video across Instagram, building more great creative and monetization tools for creators, and helping more people discover and interact with relevant Reels,” said Zuckerberg.

We can’t say we’ll miss IGTV but don’t think that it’s end is the end of short-form video, that still appears to be incredibly popular.