Although CEO Kevin Systrom did tell a group of reporters that monetization options will be available to IGTV users down the road, Instagram missed a huge opportunity to become a serious threat to YouTube on day one. Especially as YouTubers are desperately looking for alternatives to Google's video site. The company is continuously changing its advertising guidelines -- which affects how channels earn money. Last year, during an effort to automatically demonetize offensive videos, YouTube ended up stripping innocent creators of revenue. It eventually made amends and fixed its mistake, but not before it had set off an avalanche of very public complaints from YouTubers about what they called "adpocalypse." These constant shifts in YouTube's monetization rules, and its algorithms, have led some creators to have public breakdowns and address growing mental health problems caused by the anxiety of their jobs. The pressure of having to constantly produce new content, while worrying about whether their videos may end up violating the service's ad guidelines, has become a stressful ordeal. So, for those making a living out of YouTube, other sources of revenue would be more than welcome.

This should be where IGTV comes in. But Instagram decided to push its product out the door without any of the tools necessary for creators to actually make money. Of course, it could easily run into similar issues as Google has. But YouTube's problems are well documented and could provide a rough road map for what to do and what not to. Even though Instagram doesn't have a way to pay creators yet, there's obvious interest from some of the world's biggest -- as shown by Ninja and Lele Pons' presence at the launch event. And that shouldn't come as a surprise, since it would be a mistake for any of them to ignore an app that now has one billion monthly active users and counting.

"We're not starting there, because we're trying to just give a good consumer experience," Ashley Yuki, Instagram's product manager, told Engadget about the decision to leave ads out of IGTV at first. These videos can have links in their description, which could direct people to something such as a sponsored Instagram post. Native advertising campaigns, like the ones Kim Kardashian used to have so much trouble with, are a major source of revenue for influencers. So, until pre-rolls or swipeable ads arrive on IGTV, creators with large followings will probably have to rely on those.