Instagram is making the jump from mobile devices to the living-room TV for the first time — a bid to ratchet up viewing of short-form Reels, by taking videos to the biggest screen in the house.
The Meta-owned social platform on Tuesday launched a pilot of Instagram for TV, an app designed to display Reels on connected TVs. It is initially available for Amazon’s Fire TV family of devices and only in the U.S.; Instagram expects to widen support for additional devices and launch in additional markets next year.
But how many people will actually want to use Instagram for TV? The company says it has feedback that there’s a healthy appetite for such a use case.
“We have seen a ton of demand from people on Instagram to watch Reels on TV,” said Tessa Lyons-Laing, VP of product for Instagram. “We hear all the time that people get together with they’re friends to watch Reels. It’s fun to connect with your friends about this stuff.”
Initially, there will not be any advertising on the Instagram for TV app, but that’s something the company will consider going forward, said Lyons-Laing.
Aidan Marcuss, VP of Fire TV devices at Amazon, commented on the Instagram for TV app launch, “We’re committed to keep pushing the boundaries of entertainment on customers’ biggest screens — the Instagram team has built an awesome experience, and we’re excited to be the first place to offer it.”
Note that “Instagram for TV” is different from the previous “IGTV” initiative. Originally launched in 2018, IGTV was not on television sets: It was meant to spur the creation of longer-form video on Instagram, of videos up to 15 minutes in length. (Reels can be up to 3 minutes in length.) The project was phased out in 2022, as Instagram focused on expanding Reels, Meta’s TikTok-like short-form video format. Now, Instagram is taking Reels to HDTVs to try to carve out some share of big-screen viewing time.
According to Instagram, IG for TV is personalized for individual users, based on the content and creators they follow and engage with. In the connected-TV app, you can explore channels and categories — from trending comedy and sports to music and lifestyle — with Reels grouped together to make it easier to browse. When you select a channel or creator to watch, the Instagram Reels and Stories will autoplay one after the other. It’s the first time Reels content will be organized like this, Lyons-Laing said: “We’ve made a lot of progress understanding content clusters. That hasn’t existed before on Instagram.”
The Instagram for TV app also shows you Reels that are popular among your friends, and there’s a search feature. The Instagram for TV app allows you to add up to five accounts on one home screen, and you can even create a new account just for TV viewing.
Instagram released a video clip showing how the connected-TV app works: