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Instagram is getting into the TV game.
Meta is testing out long-form, horizontal video on Instagram—for TV. Over the winter, it debuted a Reels app for smart TVs called Instagram for TV, but now it is working with creators to make long-form, horizontal videos for that app, as well as trying live TV creator experiences.
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Not only that, but now users (who have Samsung, Amazon Fire and Google TVs) can watch IG stories and cast reels from their phones to their TVs as of this week.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Instagram has encouraged creators to make episodic stories—like the new microdramas we’re seeing on TikTok.
“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,” Instagram vice president of product Tessa Lyons told The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
For years, everything has been centered on the smartphone in our hands and content has gotten shorter and shorter right along with our attention spans. But now, these competing social media companies, who say they’re finally seeing a desire for longer content that can be watched in the living room, want to be on our TVs too.
“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.”