The news: Instagram is making a connected TV (CTV) play with IG for TV, which lets users watch Reels content on a big screen. It’s testing the app on Amazon Fire TV devices in the US and will expand to more devices and countries soon, per a blog post.
The app’s homescreen features a personalized horizontal carousel of videos to browse. Users can watch full portrait videos and view captions, likes, and share stats. Meta is also exploring features like using a phone as a remote and enabling shared feeds with friends.
Zooming in: Rumors of an Instagram CTV app started swirling in June and were further stoked when Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in October that Meta was exploring TV integrations and apps. “TV is an increasingly important surface … so we’d like to figure out how to make sure that we show up in a compelling way on all the relevant devices,” Mosseri told Bloomberg.
IG for TV is not a revival of IGTV, Instagram’s long-form video product that shuttered in 2022 after failing to gain traction. The new product is explicitly built around Reels, one of Instagram’s most important engagement drivers. In Q2 2025, Reels made up 21% of all US ad impressions on Instagram, behind Stories (44%) and Feed (31%), per Tinuiti.
The opportunity: This renewed CTV effort suggests Instagram is looking for more Reels growth amid competition from TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Reels is central to Instagram’s engagement strategy and the platform’s future ad revenues, so expanding viewership to TV is a logical next step.
Short-form video platforms have previously been constrained by mobile-only viewing, a limitation YouTube addressed by expanding Shorts to CTV.
- Moving Reels beyond small screens lets Instagram tap into lean-back viewing, shared household attention, and premium CTV budgets. It also positions Instagram closer to YouTube’s advantage as a cross-device video platform.
- A CTV experience could increase session length and enable co-viewing, rather than serving as personal mobile time.
What marketers should do: Diversify short-form content for the big screen by crafting videos with clearer framing, readable text, and storytelling that can translate to TV viewing. Track how short-form assets drive awareness and conversion with Meta’s Ad Manager assets.