Instagram confirm they reduce the quality of videos that aren’t proving to be popular. Adam Mosseri confirmed video quality is based on the algorithm.
It’s been confirmed that Instagram reduce the video quality for videos that aren’t favoured. Content which doesn’t appear to be popular, according to the algorithm, will be reduced in quality. You could argue, this will only deplete the views further.
The lower the quality, the lower the interest from viewers. If a video isn’t up to a higher standard, why would people choose to sit and watch it? Instagram is essentially making this choice by ensuring the quality of the video lacks.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, has addressed the rumours about this topic and confirmed them to be true. However, he has suggested that video quality can also be improved as well as reduced. But, if your video isn’t performing, and is blurry, how can it start to perform?
“In general, we want to show the highest quality video we can when someone is watching a Story or Reel […] But if something isn’t watched for a long time, because the vast majority of views are in the beginning [after initial posting], we will move to a lower quality video, and then if it’s watched again a lot, then we’ll re-render the higher quality video.”
Adam Mosseri
On the flip side of this, he has spoken about how a video displaying in poor quality, might not be a fault of the algorithm. Instead, it could be due to internet speeds. If someone’s internet is slow, a video will appear in a lower quality so it can still load quickly.
Otherwise, a lot of buffering will occur. If Instagram wants to deliver a service which isn’t built around regular loading times, it has to make sacrifices somewhere. But, it does seem unfair that videos from small creators will likely be reduced in quality and overshadowed.
Bigger creators are favoured by Instagram
“It works at an aggregate level, not an individual viewer level. We bias to higher quality (more CPU intensive encoding and more expensive storage for bigger files) for creators who drive more views. It’s not a binary threshold, but rather a sliding scale.”
Adam Mosseri
Previously, Adam Mosseri has suggested his aim is to balance out the divide between small and large creators. However, this isn’t the case if the platform is favouring those who have a large following and damaging the video quality of those will a smaller following.
It’s understandable why those with a large following aren’t seeing a decrease in video quality. After all, if you have thousands of views, you don’t deserve to have your content distorted. However, neither do the smaller creators who are trying to find their break.
