Instagram is ramping up its efforts to attract more viewers on television in a way that may look very, well, old-school.
Starting Monday, the Meta-owned social app will be testing out horizontal video on Instagram for TV, their preexisting feature that allows viewers to watch social videos on the big screen in their living room. And that’s not all. Coming soon, the company will also be experimenting with longer-form storytelling and episodic series with creators, in addition to trying live TV creator experiences on for size.
The changes are timed to the launch of Instagram for TV on Samsung TV devices on Monday, a move that will significantly extend the reach of the feature. Previously, Instagram for TV was only available on Amazon Fire and Google TV products.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Instagram vp of product Tessa Lyons called television “the next frontier” for the app. “Ultimately Instagram is all about connecting people around creativity. We’re all about helping creators find their audiences and we’re constantly evolving how we do that in order to meet [their] needs,” she said. “And I really think that TV is in so many ways the next frontier of that for us.”
Also rolling out on Monday is the ability for users to be able to watch “Stories” (limited-time posts that appear on the top of Instagram feeds) on TV, after the app’s audience asked for it. Also new is a test run for users to cast reels from their phone onto their TV.
Instagram’s push into more traditional storytelling formats — such as the longform episodic videos that have reigned on TV since the early 20th century — emerged from noticing how creators were already using the app to publicize more extended videos that they were sharing elsewhere, Lyons said. Moreover, Instagram has not been blind to the rise of microdramas and Lyons believes that its creators can move into the format, where stories are broken up into one to three-minute serialized episodes.
“Today a lot of them [microdramas] are produced by production houses and that’s cool and there’s going to be a role for that,” Lyons said. “But we also think there’s an incredibly compelling opportunity for creators themselves to create in this format. And for a lot of the shortform content creators who are Instagram-native, it’s a very accessible way to get into telling longer and more episodic stories.”
Instagram began reaching out this week to encourage creators to start producing these episodic stories. Microdrama companies have historically marketed their fare on both Instagram and its rival app, TikTok, but ultimately used the platforms to direct viewers to their own apps. Starting earlier this year, TikTok began making its own microdramas through its PineDrama app and signed a deal with Issa Rae’s production company, HOORAE, to retain some of that audience.
For television execs, Instagram’s redoubled efforts to capture TV viewers may offer yet another source of anxiety at time when the competition for eyeballs is fierce. Fellow social video giant YouTube has already bested streamers like Netflix and HBO Max in viewership on TV, in 2025 becoming the most-watched video provider in the U.S. on the tube. In turn, Netflix has begun pushing into traditional social media territory, inking deals to stream video podcasts from the likes of Pete Davidson and Bill Simmons, and introducing a vertical video “Clips” feed on mobile.
As the lines between digital and traditional entertainment continue to blur, Instagram is giving its creators the ability to try their hand at some time-honored storytelling formats. “I think what’s old is new again in that people love coming together around stories,” Lyons said. “And I think that giving creators more ways of going directly to their audiences to do that is going to be a great way of supporting creativity.”
