Will Instagram become a TV channel? Meta's social network aims to redefine television viewing

Soon we’ll be watching Instagram Reels on our TV. According to Bloomberg, the platform is working on an app dedicated to TV screens, a move that would mark a direct challenge to YouTube and an additional push toward Meta’s video-only content strategy. With over 3 billion monthly active users, Instagram is now much more than a mobile platform: it’s an audiovisual ecosystem that aims to move beyond the smartphone and enter the most traditional place for media consumption: the living room.

Globally, the way we consume video has already changed. According to a report by Nielsen, in May 2025, streaming surpassed for the first time the combined total of broadcast and cable, reaching 44.8% of total viewing time spent in front of the TV in the United States. The same trend is reflected in Europe and Asia: audiences prefer short, personalized, on-demand formats that replace the linear logic of scheduled programming. YouTube, in particular, has become a true television platform: more than 1 billion hours are watched on TV, which in the U.S. is now the main device for video viewing. In the U.K., according to Ofcom, the average time spent on YouTube reached 39 minutes per day, and viewing via TV grew from 34% in 2023 to 41% in 2024. Video consumption, therefore, is no longer a passive domestic experience but a fragmented and continuous daily habit, spread across multiple screens, from smartphone to television.

In Italy and Europe, the small-big screen never dies

The central role of TV remains strong in Europe as well. According to Advanced Television, Italians spend on average over four hours a day in front of the TV, compared to about two and a half hours online. But it’s no longer just traditional television: today, 74% of Italian households own a connected TV, for a total of over 22 million active devices, with an average of five screens per household according to Freewheel Report. Television, in short, hasn’t disappeared, it has simply changed its skin, becoming a connected digital platform that adapts to the same logic as social feeds. It’s precisely on this hybrid ground - between streaming, on-demand, and social viewing -  that Instagram wants to make its entry.

When CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed to Bloomberg that the team is «exploring a TV app,» he wasn’t just talking about technology. In an interview with The Economic Times, he explained that «if user behavior and consumption on these platforms are shifting toward TV, then we must move to TV as well.» Instagram was born as a mobile-first platform with fast interactions, endless scrolling, and vertical formats. Bringing all of this to the TV screen means shifting perspective, from an individual, tactile experience to a more collective, couch-based one.

In recent years, the app has already evolved toward a deeper audiovisual logic, centering its ecosystem on Reels, Stories, and private messaging in line with changing digital consumption habits: snackable formats have replaced sequential viewing. The Reuters Digital News Report 2024 shows that 32% of 18–24-year-olds get their news from TikTok and Instagram, while only 20% still watch newscasts or linear programs. The audience moves where attention spans are shorter and gratification is more immediate: scroll, loop, replay. In this context, a TV app for Instagram is not a tech whim but the natural extension of an already established behavior, so much so that, according to eMarketer, video consumption on smart TVs grows by 15% per year, and connected TV advertising in Europe will exceed $15 billion by 2026. It’s a space that YouTube has long dominated but remains open to short formats, those 30-second or one-minute videos that, watched in sequence, become binge-content.

What is television today?

Once a collective ritual, today TV is a hybrid platform where social media content blends with talk shows, news, and streaming. If Instagram manages to integrate itself into this flow, it could redefine the very idea of a program: no longer a scheduled lineup, but an infinite sequence of micro-moments to watch together on the couch. The risk, however, is clear. Formats born for the phone screen, optimized for instant attention and touch interaction, could feel excessively short on a TV. Mosseri admitted it himself: «Bringing Instagram to TV requires a radical change in how people experience our content.» To stay relevant (and avoid falling into the trap of competing with YouTube or TikTok at all costs), Instagram will have to rethink how videos are watched on its app, shifting the experience from thumb to remote control. If Instagram can translate the speed of the swipe into a shared domestic moment, it could redefine not just the platform but the very way we think about television itself.