Instagram TV's Big Play
Instagram TV Targets Living Rooms with New Long-Form Episodic and Live Experiences
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Key Points
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Reels can be cast from the Saved tab to the TV, expanding what content mobile users can push to the living room screen.
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Instagram is exploring long-form episodic content with episodes potentially as short as 1–3 minutes, signaling a microdrama approach to TV-style storytelling on the platform.
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Instagram VP of Product Tessa Lyons describes television as the 'next frontier' for the app, emphasizing that TV is central to how creators reach audiences and that Instagram is evolving to meet their needs.
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The Series feature for Reels is being tested to help users keep up with serialized content across Instagram and Facebook, reinforcing the push toward serialized TV-style storytelling.
Instagram is making its biggest push yet into the living room. The Meta-owned app is rolling out on Samsung Smart TVs — covering 2020 models and newer — and announcing plans for long-form episodic content and live creator programming, according to The Wrap and The Next Web.
With Samsung added to its lineup, Instagram now runs on the three largest connected TV platforms in the US: Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, and Samsung. Instagram VP of Product Tessa Lyons called television the 'next frontier' for the app, signaling a hard shift away from mobile-only thinking.
From Reels to TV: How Instagram Got Here
Instagram's TV ambitions did not appear overnight. The app launched on Amazon Fire TV in December 2025. It expanded to Google TV in February 2026. Samsung is the third and biggest step, according to The Next Web. Together, these three platforms cover the majority of connected TV households in the US.
This is Instagram's second attempt at long-form video. Its first, IGTV, launched in 2018 and was shut down in 2022. That product failed partly because it forced a vertical format onto large screens. This time, Instagram is testing a dedicated horizontal-video hub — a direct acknowledgment that a 55-inch TV needs landscape video, The Wrap reported.
Mini-Episodes and Series: Instagram's Microdrama Bet
Instagram is testing a feature called Series, which lets creators bundle Reels into sequential episodes. The target length for each episode is just 1 to 3 minutes — a format sometimes called a 'microdrama.' Meta began a limited test of Series on June 2 for both Instagram and Facebook, according to The Next Web.
Lyons said at the Scalable Summit in May that 'short-form vertical content is not going to be enough to succeed on TV.' The Series feature is designed to fix that. Creators can release episodic content that users can follow across both Instagram and Facebook, making it easier to build audiences around a recurring story.
Watch Together, Cast from Phone, Browse by Topic
The TV app includes several features built for shared viewing. Users can cast Reels saved on their phone directly to the TV screen. The app also organizes content into interest-based channels — Music, Sports, Travel — so groups can browse and discover videos together, according to The Wrap.
Stories are also available on the big screen for the first time. Instagram is expanding 'watch together' tools to make creator content feel more like a group experience. The goal is to move users from solitary scrolling on their phone to leaning back on a couch with others.
Instagram vs. Netflix: The Real Fight Behind This Rollout
The push is a direct response to YouTube's dominance in the living room. YouTube is currently the most-watched streaming service in the US, beating Netflix and Prime Video for 'lean-back' viewing time, according to The Next Web. Instagram wants a share of that audience — and the ad dollars that come with it.
Meta is also exploring monetization for the Series feature. Options include episode-based paywalls and premium ad placements during live TV broadcasts. Instagram Plus, a subscription priced at $3.99 per month, may eventually tie into access to premium episodic content. Within two years, Lyons said, 'Instagram could play a unique part in creators' long-form strategies.'
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