A new move places Instagram one step further in the battle for the television screen. Meta announced recently the launch of Instagram for TV, a dedicated app for smart TVs that will allow users to watch Reels videos directly on the big screen. In the first stage, the company is beginning to test the tool in the United States via Amazon Fire TV devices, with expansion to additional countries and hardware manufacturers planned for a later stage.
The new app offers a viewing experience different from that of the mobile phone. Instead of endless scrolling, videos will be presented in dedicated channels organized by areas of interest, including music, sports, travel, trends, and standout moments from across the web. According to Instagram, the goal is to enable more comfortable viewing of content from friends, well-known creators, and conversation-leading content, in a social atmosphere suited to shared viewing in the living room.
At Meta, they emphasize that the Reels shown on television will remain in the familiar vertical format and will not be adapted to a horizontal screen. The length of the videos will continue to be short, up to three minutes, in line with Instagram’s strategy in recent years, which has focused on promoting short-form video in response to the rise of TikTok. In the past, the company attempted to promote longer content through the IGTV app, which was shut down in 2022.
In the coming months, Instagram is expected to test additional features, including using the mobile phone as a remote control, new ways to browse between channels, shared feeds for watching with friends, and tools that will bring together content from favorite creators in one place. The app will allow users to add up to five different accounts for a personalized viewing experience for all household members, and even to create a dedicated account for TV viewing only.
The company notes that the content offered in the TV app will meet standards appropriate for a broad audience, so content that includes drugs, alcohol, or sexuality will not be offered by default to younger viewers. Overall, the move highlights Instagram’s ambition to become a central video platform beyond the smartphone as well, and to compete directly with YouTube and TikTok in the home living room.