This hacker unearths Instagram's unreleased IGTV ads feature

Instagram is testing new advertising tools to let creators earn money from the video content they post on IGTV.

This was revealed by Hong Kong-based reverse-engineering whizz Jane Manchum Wong in a Twitter post.

Wong has earned a reputation among tech workers, journalists, and enthusiasts because of her fondness for digging up and making public unreleased features long before they are officially announced.

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Lately, she took to Twitter to reveal: “Instagram is testing a partner program that would let creators monetize their content by running short adverts on their IGTV videos.”

Instagram is working on IGTV Ads to let influencers monetize their content by running short ads on their IGTV Videos pic.twitter.com/wOhbnpsfjL

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 7, 2020

Alexandru Voica, a Facebook spokesperson, later confirmed the test in a tweet, saying they don’t have details to share now but they will as the concept develops further.

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Wong shared screenshots of the Instagram Partner Program, saying users would be able to “earn money by running short ads on your IGTV videos.” They would also have to agree to follow the Partner Program Monetisation policies.

According to reports, Instagram would most likely split ad revenue with video producers using IGTV on the same pattern as Facebook Watch, where creators earn 55 per cent of ad revenue generation.

This would be the first monetizable platform on Instagram as creators currently earn money from sponsorship deals with third-party brands.

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Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, commenting on the feature, said they hadn’t started monetising it sooner because they wanted to focus on making sure “the product had legs” in the first place.