How to Create Engaging Visual Hooks: A Guide to Video Thumbnail Making

How to Make Video Thumbnails for YouTube

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The video thumbnails you use for YouTube are vital to getting views and subscribers. There are a lot of things that go into making people watch your videos, but your video thumbnail might be the most important factor.

Here are 5 easy tips for creating thumbnails that get views.

1. Have a Consistent Layout
2. Use Your Face
3. Use Graphics/Emojis That is On Topic
4. Make Your Text Huge
5. Keep It Clutter-Free!

Contest now closed.

Edit Your Videos Before Creating Video Thumbnails

1. Have a Consistent Layout

Your thumbnails all must look like part of the same set. You want viewers to recognize your videos like yours, and they are more likely to do that if you build up a standard layout that they can start associating with you.

An example of a standard layout could be you in the middle of the screen wearing an expression that matches the theme of your video, with your title written underneath your face. Every individual thumbnail would still be different, but you and the text would always be in the same spot.

2. Use Your Face

People feel automatically connected and drawn into images that make eye contact. This makes thumbnails which feature faces more click-able than thumbnails which don’t, in most genres (i.e. if you make food videos then this may not apply – featuring the food might be more important than featuring your face). Check out more tips like this here .

Also, if somebody recognizes you in your thumbnail from a previous video of yours, that will go a long way towards making them click.

3. Use Graphics/Emojis that are On Topic

Anybody can take a screenshot of themselves in their video and use it as a thumbnail. To make your thumbnails look polished, consider using small images (like emojis or hearts) to stand out. This will add color and personality to your thumbnail.

Make sure the images you choose are relevant to the topic of your video.

4. Make Your Text Huge

If you use text in your thumbnail (you don’t have to) then it should be to add context. For example, if the main image is just you smiling then you might need some text to let viewers know the video is a makeup tutorial.

Thumbnails might look large while you’re putting them together in your image editor, but when they’re displayed on YouTube they’re a lot smaller. That goes double if a viewer is watching on their phone. So, make sure that any text you use is large enough that it can be read easily on small screens.

5. Keep it Clutter-Free

It’s great to add text and emojis to your thumbnails, but you do need to be careful not to add too much. You never want your thumbnails to look cluttered. Viewers should be able to glance at your thumbnails and know exactly what kind of video to expect – that’s difficult to do if there’s too much to process.

A good rule for text is to use only 1-3 words. That way they won’t clutter your screen, and you can make them large enough to read on small-screened devices.

For even more tips on making great YouTube thumbnails, click here .

Use these tips to make video thumbnails for YouTube, and tell us what kind of results you get!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

IGTV VS YouTube: Should Video Content Creators Use One Platform or The Other?

IGTV VS YouTube: Should Video Content Creators Use One Platform or The Other?

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

IGTV receives quite a lot of attention from marketers and content creators alike. Some even go so far to compare IGTV to YouTube, currently, the largest video sharing platform in the world that hosts 300 minutes of video each minute. IGTV may have fewer users than YouTube, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to use it effectively for a wide array of different purposes. So, in this article, we are going to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each platform in order to help you discover how you can utilize each of these social networks to broaden the audience for the content you share online.

You May Also Like:
Instagram Reels VS Instagram Stories–Everything You Need to Know >>
YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok: Which One Is Better? >>

IGTV VS YouTube: What’s the difference

Comparison between IGTV and YouTube is somewhat unfair towards the former since IGTV is a much younger platform that still needs time to develop. YouTube, on the other hand, has a reputation as one of the most reliable video sharing platforms ever created that enables people from all walks of life to upload and share music, movies, gaming videos and virtually any other type of moving images. Even so, let’s take a look at major differences and similarities between IGTV and YouTube.

Have a Quick Glance of the Differences

01 Interface Differences

02 The Upload Process

03 Discovering New Content

03 Monetization

03 Analytics and Insights

1. Interface Differences

Despite the fact that you can access IGTV from a web browser, this platform is predominantly dedicated to videos that are going to be watched on mobile devices. This also means that the thumbnails of the videos you uploaded to your IGTV channel are going to be displayed differently than those on your YouTube channel. The interfaces of these two social networks are entirely different, but if you are a newcomer to each of these platforms you won’t have much trouble getting used to them.

2. The Upload Process

The fact that you can only upload vertically oriented videos to IGTV somewhat limits your options because you either have to record a video for IGTV specifically or you must edit a horizontally oriented video and change its aspect ratio to 9:16. You can upload videos to YouTube and IGTV directly from your computer or you can use iPhone and Android-based apps to capture videos with your phone and upload them to either of these platforms. The maximum duration of an IGTV video can’t exceed sixty minutes, while the default duration of all videos on YouTube is set to 15 minutes. Nonetheless, if you own a verified YouTube account, you can upload videos that have 128GB and last up to 12 hours.

At the moment the videos you want to upload to your IGTV channel have to be saved in the MP4 file format because the platform still doesn’t offer support for any other video file format. YouTube grants much more freedom in this respect as it allows you to upload videos saved in AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4 and other commonly used file formats.

3. Discovering New Content

IGTV is more than a decade younger than YouTube, so you shouldn’t be surprised if you’re having trouble discovering new content. Moreover, IGTV’s search engine is still relatively new and it is much less powerful than the one used by YouTube. This is the reason why the videos you upload to your YouTube channel are going to be much easier to find via a simple Google search than those you shared on IGTV. Besides, YouTube offers much more new content on a daily basis than IGTV, and it is clear that the Instagram’s new brainchild still has ways to go before it reaches the point when it can challenge the largest video sharing platform in the world in terms of diversity of the content that it delivers to its users.

4. Monetization

At the moment, views and likes can’t be monetized on IGTV, so most influencers rely on sponsorships from brands. Things may change as the platform grows, but for the time being IGTV doesn’t provide the content creators with any compensation for the work they are putting in. YouTube allows content creators to monetize their videos through Google Adsense for years, and some of its most prominent users like PewDiePie or Logan Paul have earned hundreds of millions of dollars by posting new content on their YouTube channels. Keep in mind that you are going to need at least a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time before you can enable YouTube’s Monetize feature.

5. Analytics and Insights

Knowing how many people watched the entire video or how many likes and comments certain types of videos get can help you produce content that attracts a larger audience on all social networks. The metrics such as engagement or view-through rates can be essential during online marketing campaigns as they can suggest how many people are watching your videos and for how long. The analytics tools YouTube provides are much more diverse than those offered by IGTV that only lets you see the audience retention graph and the number of views and comments a video currently has. YouTube is an obviously a much better option for anyone who wants to conduct an in-depth analysis of their content’s performance, although the tools on IGTV are still powerful enough to indicate which type of content your audience likes the most.

Why Shouldn’t You Use YouTube and IGTV For the Same Purposes?

You shouldn’t assume that you can post the same type of videos on your YouTube and IGTV channels, just because they are both video sharing platforms. The content you create for your IGTV channel needs to be dynamic and entertaining in order to captivate the audience’s attention. Posting tutorials or hour-long gaming videos on IGTV won’t attract as many viewers as on YouTube, which is why businesses who want to use IGTV to promote their products and services need to choose the content carefully. Furthermore, the videos that last between two and five minutes are still by far the most popular on IGTV, so even though technically you can upload a video that lasts one hour to your IGTV channel, the chances are that such long videos won’t get a lot of views.

IGTV is probably best used as a tool that can help improve the engagement with your followers on Instagram, but if you want to become an established video content creator, then running a YouTube channel is simply a much better option. It still remains to be seen how will IGTV evolve in the years to come, but at the present moment this platform doesn’t really have any chance of challenging YouTube’s position as the world’s leading video sharing platform.

However, no matter which video platform you choose, you need to ensure the videos you create are of high quality. A good video editing software like Filmora can help you acheive this goal.

Useful Features of Filmora

• Cokor Matching: Apply color correction setting to multiple clips on one-click.
• Effects: Create blockbuster videos with preset effects.
• Motion Tracking: Track moving items and add elements to it at ease.
• And more waiting for you to discover.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

IGTV receives quite a lot of attention from marketers and content creators alike. Some even go so far to compare IGTV to YouTube, currently, the largest video sharing platform in the world that hosts 300 minutes of video each minute. IGTV may have fewer users than YouTube, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to use it effectively for a wide array of different purposes. So, in this article, we are going to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each platform in order to help you discover how you can utilize each of these social networks to broaden the audience for the content you share online.

You May Also Like:
Instagram Reels VS Instagram Stories–Everything You Need to Know >>
YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok: Which One Is Better? >>

IGTV VS YouTube: What’s the difference

Comparison between IGTV and YouTube is somewhat unfair towards the former since IGTV is a much younger platform that still needs time to develop. YouTube, on the other hand, has a reputation as one of the most reliable video sharing platforms ever created that enables people from all walks of life to upload and share music, movies, gaming videos and virtually any other type of moving images. Even so, let’s take a look at major differences and similarities between IGTV and YouTube.

Have a Quick Glance of the Differences

01 Interface Differences

02 The Upload Process

03 Discovering New Content

03 Monetization

03 Analytics and Insights

1. Interface Differences

Despite the fact that you can access IGTV from a web browser, this platform is predominantly dedicated to videos that are going to be watched on mobile devices. This also means that the thumbnails of the videos you uploaded to your IGTV channel are going to be displayed differently than those on your YouTube channel. The interfaces of these two social networks are entirely different, but if you are a newcomer to each of these platforms you won’t have much trouble getting used to them.

2. The Upload Process

The fact that you can only upload vertically oriented videos to IGTV somewhat limits your options because you either have to record a video for IGTV specifically or you must edit a horizontally oriented video and change its aspect ratio to 9:16. You can upload videos to YouTube and IGTV directly from your computer or you can use iPhone and Android-based apps to capture videos with your phone and upload them to either of these platforms. The maximum duration of an IGTV video can’t exceed sixty minutes, while the default duration of all videos on YouTube is set to 15 minutes. Nonetheless, if you own a verified YouTube account, you can upload videos that have 128GB and last up to 12 hours.

At the moment the videos you want to upload to your IGTV channel have to be saved in the MP4 file format because the platform still doesn’t offer support for any other video file format. YouTube grants much more freedom in this respect as it allows you to upload videos saved in AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4 and other commonly used file formats.

3. Discovering New Content

IGTV is more than a decade younger than YouTube, so you shouldn’t be surprised if you’re having trouble discovering new content. Moreover, IGTV’s search engine is still relatively new and it is much less powerful than the one used by YouTube. This is the reason why the videos you upload to your YouTube channel are going to be much easier to find via a simple Google search than those you shared on IGTV. Besides, YouTube offers much more new content on a daily basis than IGTV, and it is clear that the Instagram’s new brainchild still has ways to go before it reaches the point when it can challenge the largest video sharing platform in the world in terms of diversity of the content that it delivers to its users.

4. Monetization

At the moment, views and likes can’t be monetized on IGTV, so most influencers rely on sponsorships from brands. Things may change as the platform grows, but for the time being IGTV doesn’t provide the content creators with any compensation for the work they are putting in. YouTube allows content creators to monetize their videos through Google Adsense for years, and some of its most prominent users like PewDiePie or Logan Paul have earned hundreds of millions of dollars by posting new content on their YouTube channels. Keep in mind that you are going to need at least a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time before you can enable YouTube’s Monetize feature.

5. Analytics and Insights

Knowing how many people watched the entire video or how many likes and comments certain types of videos get can help you produce content that attracts a larger audience on all social networks. The metrics such as engagement or view-through rates can be essential during online marketing campaigns as they can suggest how many people are watching your videos and for how long. The analytics tools YouTube provides are much more diverse than those offered by IGTV that only lets you see the audience retention graph and the number of views and comments a video currently has. YouTube is an obviously a much better option for anyone who wants to conduct an in-depth analysis of their content’s performance, although the tools on IGTV are still powerful enough to indicate which type of content your audience likes the most.

Why Shouldn’t You Use YouTube and IGTV For the Same Purposes?

You shouldn’t assume that you can post the same type of videos on your YouTube and IGTV channels, just because they are both video sharing platforms. The content you create for your IGTV channel needs to be dynamic and entertaining in order to captivate the audience’s attention. Posting tutorials or hour-long gaming videos on IGTV won’t attract as many viewers as on YouTube, which is why businesses who want to use IGTV to promote their products and services need to choose the content carefully. Furthermore, the videos that last between two and five minutes are still by far the most popular on IGTV, so even though technically you can upload a video that lasts one hour to your IGTV channel, the chances are that such long videos won’t get a lot of views.

IGTV is probably best used as a tool that can help improve the engagement with your followers on Instagram, but if you want to become an established video content creator, then running a YouTube channel is simply a much better option. It still remains to be seen how will IGTV evolve in the years to come, but at the present moment this platform doesn’t really have any chance of challenging YouTube’s position as the world’s leading video sharing platform.

However, no matter which video platform you choose, you need to ensure the videos you create are of high quality. A good video editing software like Filmora can help you acheive this goal.

Useful Features of Filmora

• Cokor Matching: Apply color correction setting to multiple clips on one-click.
• Effects: Create blockbuster videos with preset effects.
• Motion Tracking: Track moving items and add elements to it at ease.
• And more waiting for you to discover.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

IGTV receives quite a lot of attention from marketers and content creators alike. Some even go so far to compare IGTV to YouTube, currently, the largest video sharing platform in the world that hosts 300 minutes of video each minute. IGTV may have fewer users than YouTube, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to use it effectively for a wide array of different purposes. So, in this article, we are going to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each platform in order to help you discover how you can utilize each of these social networks to broaden the audience for the content you share online.

You May Also Like:
Instagram Reels VS Instagram Stories–Everything You Need to Know >>
YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok: Which One Is Better? >>

IGTV VS YouTube: What’s the difference

Comparison between IGTV and YouTube is somewhat unfair towards the former since IGTV is a much younger platform that still needs time to develop. YouTube, on the other hand, has a reputation as one of the most reliable video sharing platforms ever created that enables people from all walks of life to upload and share music, movies, gaming videos and virtually any other type of moving images. Even so, let’s take a look at major differences and similarities between IGTV and YouTube.

Have a Quick Glance of the Differences

01 Interface Differences

02 The Upload Process

03 Discovering New Content

03 Monetization

03 Analytics and Insights

1. Interface Differences

Despite the fact that you can access IGTV from a web browser, this platform is predominantly dedicated to videos that are going to be watched on mobile devices. This also means that the thumbnails of the videos you uploaded to your IGTV channel are going to be displayed differently than those on your YouTube channel. The interfaces of these two social networks are entirely different, but if you are a newcomer to each of these platforms you won’t have much trouble getting used to them.

2. The Upload Process

The fact that you can only upload vertically oriented videos to IGTV somewhat limits your options because you either have to record a video for IGTV specifically or you must edit a horizontally oriented video and change its aspect ratio to 9:16. You can upload videos to YouTube and IGTV directly from your computer or you can use iPhone and Android-based apps to capture videos with your phone and upload them to either of these platforms. The maximum duration of an IGTV video can’t exceed sixty minutes, while the default duration of all videos on YouTube is set to 15 minutes. Nonetheless, if you own a verified YouTube account, you can upload videos that have 128GB and last up to 12 hours.

At the moment the videos you want to upload to your IGTV channel have to be saved in the MP4 file format because the platform still doesn’t offer support for any other video file format. YouTube grants much more freedom in this respect as it allows you to upload videos saved in AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4 and other commonly used file formats.

3. Discovering New Content

IGTV is more than a decade younger than YouTube, so you shouldn’t be surprised if you’re having trouble discovering new content. Moreover, IGTV’s search engine is still relatively new and it is much less powerful than the one used by YouTube. This is the reason why the videos you upload to your YouTube channel are going to be much easier to find via a simple Google search than those you shared on IGTV. Besides, YouTube offers much more new content on a daily basis than IGTV, and it is clear that the Instagram’s new brainchild still has ways to go before it reaches the point when it can challenge the largest video sharing platform in the world in terms of diversity of the content that it delivers to its users.

4. Monetization

At the moment, views and likes can’t be monetized on IGTV, so most influencers rely on sponsorships from brands. Things may change as the platform grows, but for the time being IGTV doesn’t provide the content creators with any compensation for the work they are putting in. YouTube allows content creators to monetize their videos through Google Adsense for years, and some of its most prominent users like PewDiePie or Logan Paul have earned hundreds of millions of dollars by posting new content on their YouTube channels. Keep in mind that you are going to need at least a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time before you can enable YouTube’s Monetize feature.

5. Analytics and Insights

Knowing how many people watched the entire video or how many likes and comments certain types of videos get can help you produce content that attracts a larger audience on all social networks. The metrics such as engagement or view-through rates can be essential during online marketing campaigns as they can suggest how many people are watching your videos and for how long. The analytics tools YouTube provides are much more diverse than those offered by IGTV that only lets you see the audience retention graph and the number of views and comments a video currently has. YouTube is an obviously a much better option for anyone who wants to conduct an in-depth analysis of their content’s performance, although the tools on IGTV are still powerful enough to indicate which type of content your audience likes the most.

Why Shouldn’t You Use YouTube and IGTV For the Same Purposes?

You shouldn’t assume that you can post the same type of videos on your YouTube and IGTV channels, just because they are both video sharing platforms. The content you create for your IGTV channel needs to be dynamic and entertaining in order to captivate the audience’s attention. Posting tutorials or hour-long gaming videos on IGTV won’t attract as many viewers as on YouTube, which is why businesses who want to use IGTV to promote their products and services need to choose the content carefully. Furthermore, the videos that last between two and five minutes are still by far the most popular on IGTV, so even though technically you can upload a video that lasts one hour to your IGTV channel, the chances are that such long videos won’t get a lot of views.

IGTV is probably best used as a tool that can help improve the engagement with your followers on Instagram, but if you want to become an established video content creator, then running a YouTube channel is simply a much better option. It still remains to be seen how will IGTV evolve in the years to come, but at the present moment this platform doesn’t really have any chance of challenging YouTube’s position as the world’s leading video sharing platform.

However, no matter which video platform you choose, you need to ensure the videos you create are of high quality. A good video editing software like Filmora can help you acheive this goal.

Useful Features of Filmora

• Cokor Matching: Apply color correction setting to multiple clips on one-click.
• Effects: Create blockbuster videos with preset effects.
• Motion Tracking: Track moving items and add elements to it at ease.
• And more waiting for you to discover.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

IGTV receives quite a lot of attention from marketers and content creators alike. Some even go so far to compare IGTV to YouTube, currently, the largest video sharing platform in the world that hosts 300 minutes of video each minute. IGTV may have fewer users than YouTube, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to use it effectively for a wide array of different purposes. So, in this article, we are going to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each platform in order to help you discover how you can utilize each of these social networks to broaden the audience for the content you share online.

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IGTV VS YouTube: What’s the difference

Comparison between IGTV and YouTube is somewhat unfair towards the former since IGTV is a much younger platform that still needs time to develop. YouTube, on the other hand, has a reputation as one of the most reliable video sharing platforms ever created that enables people from all walks of life to upload and share music, movies, gaming videos and virtually any other type of moving images. Even so, let’s take a look at major differences and similarities between IGTV and YouTube.

Have a Quick Glance of the Differences

01 Interface Differences

02 The Upload Process

03 Discovering New Content

03 Monetization

03 Analytics and Insights

1. Interface Differences

Despite the fact that you can access IGTV from a web browser, this platform is predominantly dedicated to videos that are going to be watched on mobile devices. This also means that the thumbnails of the videos you uploaded to your IGTV channel are going to be displayed differently than those on your YouTube channel. The interfaces of these two social networks are entirely different, but if you are a newcomer to each of these platforms you won’t have much trouble getting used to them.

2. The Upload Process

The fact that you can only upload vertically oriented videos to IGTV somewhat limits your options because you either have to record a video for IGTV specifically or you must edit a horizontally oriented video and change its aspect ratio to 9:16. You can upload videos to YouTube and IGTV directly from your computer or you can use iPhone and Android-based apps to capture videos with your phone and upload them to either of these platforms. The maximum duration of an IGTV video can’t exceed sixty minutes, while the default duration of all videos on YouTube is set to 15 minutes. Nonetheless, if you own a verified YouTube account, you can upload videos that have 128GB and last up to 12 hours.

At the moment the videos you want to upload to your IGTV channel have to be saved in the MP4 file format because the platform still doesn’t offer support for any other video file format. YouTube grants much more freedom in this respect as it allows you to upload videos saved in AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4 and other commonly used file formats.

3. Discovering New Content

IGTV is more than a decade younger than YouTube, so you shouldn’t be surprised if you’re having trouble discovering new content. Moreover, IGTV’s search engine is still relatively new and it is much less powerful than the one used by YouTube. This is the reason why the videos you upload to your YouTube channel are going to be much easier to find via a simple Google search than those you shared on IGTV. Besides, YouTube offers much more new content on a daily basis than IGTV, and it is clear that the Instagram’s new brainchild still has ways to go before it reaches the point when it can challenge the largest video sharing platform in the world in terms of diversity of the content that it delivers to its users.

4. Monetization

At the moment, views and likes can’t be monetized on IGTV, so most influencers rely on sponsorships from brands. Things may change as the platform grows, but for the time being IGTV doesn’t provide the content creators with any compensation for the work they are putting in. YouTube allows content creators to monetize their videos through Google Adsense for years, and some of its most prominent users like PewDiePie or Logan Paul have earned hundreds of millions of dollars by posting new content on their YouTube channels. Keep in mind that you are going to need at least a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time before you can enable YouTube’s Monetize feature.

5. Analytics and Insights

Knowing how many people watched the entire video or how many likes and comments certain types of videos get can help you produce content that attracts a larger audience on all social networks. The metrics such as engagement or view-through rates can be essential during online marketing campaigns as they can suggest how many people are watching your videos and for how long. The analytics tools YouTube provides are much more diverse than those offered by IGTV that only lets you see the audience retention graph and the number of views and comments a video currently has. YouTube is an obviously a much better option for anyone who wants to conduct an in-depth analysis of their content’s performance, although the tools on IGTV are still powerful enough to indicate which type of content your audience likes the most.

Why Shouldn’t You Use YouTube and IGTV For the Same Purposes?

You shouldn’t assume that you can post the same type of videos on your YouTube and IGTV channels, just because they are both video sharing platforms. The content you create for your IGTV channel needs to be dynamic and entertaining in order to captivate the audience’s attention. Posting tutorials or hour-long gaming videos on IGTV won’t attract as many viewers as on YouTube, which is why businesses who want to use IGTV to promote their products and services need to choose the content carefully. Furthermore, the videos that last between two and five minutes are still by far the most popular on IGTV, so even though technically you can upload a video that lasts one hour to your IGTV channel, the chances are that such long videos won’t get a lot of views.

IGTV is probably best used as a tool that can help improve the engagement with your followers on Instagram, but if you want to become an established video content creator, then running a YouTube channel is simply a much better option. It still remains to be seen how will IGTV evolve in the years to come, but at the present moment this platform doesn’t really have any chance of challenging YouTube’s position as the world’s leading video sharing platform.

However, no matter which video platform you choose, you need to ensure the videos you create are of high quality. A good video editing software like Filmora can help you acheive this goal.

Useful Features of Filmora

• Cokor Matching: Apply color correction setting to multiple clips on one-click.
• Effects: Create blockbuster videos with preset effects.
• Motion Tracking: Track moving items and add elements to it at ease.
• And more waiting for you to discover.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

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