It’s a wave of Reel improvements on Instagram 🎥

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To catch up with TikTok and its competitors, Instagram is pulling out all the stops. As a result, it’s now possible to download Reels to store on your phone and enjoy ads from brands. TechGriot explains 😉

Instagram wants to catch up ✅🎯

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri has announced that users will finally be able to download Reels from public accounts to share on other platforms. This long-awaited feature builds on the global success of Instagram’s direct competitor, TikTok, and aims to continue the good momentum started at the end of last year, improve the customer experience and attract a wider audience.

Instagram now allows you to download reels from public accounts! 👀

The option is currently only available for US users. #Instagram pic.twitter.com/lETzZvqTw7

— ㆅ (@howfxr) June 20, 2023

Downloading videos has made it possible to distribute a huge amount of TikTok content on other social networks, attracting more users to ByteDance’s app. Instagram, inundated with this shared content, had in fact stopped promoting videos with another platform’s watermark in its recommendations as of 2021.

However, the feature will only be available in the USA.

• How does downloading Reels work?

According to the information revealed by the Instagram manager, Reels will be downloadable via the share icon. A « Download » button will appear in the list of sharing options. Only public accounts will be able to make their Reels available for download. Users will also be able to set this option to their preference.

Source: Instagram

Finally, Adam Mosseri didn’t specify whether, like TikTok, an Instagram watermark will be present on downloaded videos. However, the image he posted (see screenshots above) suggests that this will be the case. It’s worth noting that YouTube also added a watermark to its downloaded Shorts almost a year ago.

Ads during Reel playback 🎥

Brands will also be able to reach new customers through the platform’s content creators, thanks to a new reach extension tool. In particular, this tool will enable them to run ads directly on Reel content, without interrupting reading.

Meta will also leverage music from Facebook’s Reels to optimize ads served by advertisers. This will make ad campaigns more entertaining and boost user engagement through music, as Facebook’s parent company explained.

Ads were already well represented on the platform, notably in Reels and Stories, but they will soon be even more so with the announced changes.

What do you think of the announced changes?

Sources: MCE TV, Leptitdigital, Twitter