Overview
- Instagram expanded its TV app to Samsung Smart TVs in the U.S. on Monday, joining Amazon Fire TV and Google TV to make the app available on a majority of connected TV devices.
- Meta is testing specific TV features including a dedicated horizontal-video section, the ability to view Stories on the big screen, phone-to-TV casting of Reels, and interest-based channels to aid shared discovery.
- The company is exploring longer-form creator content, serialized 'Series' and live creator experiences for TV and has begun outreach to creators to produce episodic short-form and microdrama-style programming in an exploratory phase.
- The push is intended to capture living-room attention and keep creators on Instagram as the platform competes with YouTube and TikTok for social-video audiences and with streaming services for TV viewing time.
- Instagram’s move builds on its shift from a photo app to a Reels-led short-video platform and could change how creators plan and monetize work by encouraging serialized, TV-friendly formats and communal, lean-back viewing.