Instagram CEO: Video Is “Probably The Most Important Area” For Company In 2016

Amid a flurry of updates to its video functionalities, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom called video “probably the most important area” for the company in 2016, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Video viewership has increased 150% percent over the past six months, Instagram says, and it has sought to capture more eyeballs by displaying video viewcounts as well as increasing maximum clip lengths to 60 seconds.

Some of Instagram’s most high-profile users are digging the new video features. Selena Gomez, who is the most popular user on the platform with 89 million followers — and who also touts the most-liked photo of all time (of her sipping on a Coca-Cola bottle) — recently shared a video of herself hopping into the pool at her July 4th party, below, which has been viewed nearly 10 million times.

“I was so stoked when Kevin told me they were doing 60 seconds,” Gomez told the Reporter. “I feel like you’re really allowed to share what your life is, and I found that people respond really well to organic, fun videos.”

Adds another prominent Instagrammer, Kevin Hart — who has almost 40 million followers on the platform — 60-second videos mean “your Instagram becomes a movie trailer, movie teaser, or movie promotion platform, and it also becomes your own promotional platform.”

Even as longer videos continue to proliferate, Systrom insists that the company has no intentions of getting into the original content game. “I’ve learned my lesson to never say never, but our goal is not to be a content production company like Netflix,” he told the Reporter. Rather than competing with Hollywood, he says, Instagram is more interested in courting social influencers. “If you sit down a giant group of teenagers and have them write the top three most influential people in the world, who do you think the top 10 are? They’re all video stars.”

For more from Systrom about Instagram’s vision for video, check out the Reporter’s feature right here.