Instagram wants to monopolize your attention

This week, Instagram launched a series of new features for its smart TV app that are all designed to get people to spend more time on the platform through the biggest screens in their homes. In addition to vertical Reels, Instagram for TV — which is currently available for Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, and Samsung Smart TVs — users can now watch disappearing Stories and horizontal videos with aspect ratios similar to what you typically see on YouTube. And soon, Instagram will make a big push for longform, episodic content and TV-focused “live creator experiences.”

This foray into the TV space feels very different from the Meta-owned company’s previous attempts to capture more of our attention by adding functionalities borrowed from competitors like TikTok, Snapchat, and Periscope (RIP.) It’s all contingent on the idea that people want to sit on their couches to watch Instagram content that they would typically consume on their phones.

The fact that we take our phones with us basically everywhere means that Instagram is always just a few taps away. The inherent portability of phone-based Instagram is arguably the biggest reason why the platform has managed to hit 3 billion monthly users. Scrolling through Instagram’s discovery page is something to do while you’re bored and already swiping through your phone. It’s easy to fire the app up and send videos to friends while you’re commuting, waiting for an elevator, or using the bathroom. But Instagram’s latest pivot is geared towards a more stationary experience that’s meant to be shared with people in the same room. This is a big bet.

Instagram says that community feedback is what inspired it to roll out the TV app’s new features. Some of them — like being able to cast Reels from your phone to your TV — make a certain amount of sense. If someone wants to share a funny video with a group, it’d be easier to throw it up onto a larger screen instead of having everyone cluster around a phone. What feels a little more dubious are Instagram for TV’s new dedicated channels that are supposed to “make it easier to find videos everyone in the room can enjoy together” even though the feeds are tailored to individual users’ interests.

It’s also hard to imagine people wanting to watch a carousel of Stories — which are essentially vertically-oriented multimedia slideshows — on their televisions. Stories look awkward on widescreen displays, and interacting with them using a remote is much less intuitive than swiping through them on a phone’s touchscreen. This is probably why Instagram is also testing a dedicated section for widescreen content. The company’s plan to develop longform content and episodic series with creators is a sign that Instagram knows its TV app can’t just be a place where people scroll through videos that only last a few seconds.

It’s obvious that Instagram is trying to capture some of the attention away from YouTube and newer upstarts like the many microdrama platforms that have begun popping up.

Microdramas are already a booming business. The sector’s revenue is estimated to hit $14 billion by the end of the year. On mobile, Instagram is in a very good position to get into the microdrama game given the app’s built-in, massive user base. Most microdrama apps require you to sign up and then either pay per episode or subscribe to monthly or yearly plans to access their content. If Instagram can convince creators to start producing more of these kinds of videos on their own, the company could very well turn itself into a new microdrama hub.

Instagram may be leading with the vertical content for the moment, but with the understanding that longform, horizontal videos need to become central to the TV app for it to succeed. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Instagram’s VP of product Tessa Lyons said that the company sees shortform content as “a very accessible way” for creators “to get into telling longer and more episodic stories.” Lyons also explained that part of what prompted the Instagram for TV’s new emphasis on longer videos was seeing creators using Instagram to promote their projects that live on other platforms.

But even if more Instagram creators embrace longform, landscape video, the TV app is going to have a tough time becoming something akin to YouTube. Like Instagram, YouTube has copied some of its competitors’ features, but YouTube has always been a destination for a wide variety of content that lends itself to viewing on a larger screen. You might start watching a YouTuber’s skit or video essay, but it’s easy to wind up putting on a playlist of music videos or a feature-length studio film. The breadth of YouTube’s content library is why it continues to be the most-watched streamer in the US, and while there’s plenty to see on Instagram, the two platforms aren’t exactly comparable in terms of what they offer viewers.

There’s a level of commitment that comes with watching something on TV that Instagram content has never really had to worry about before. You don’t exactly have to lock all the way in to appreciate a short clip on your phone. But a video on the TV should be something that can sustain your attention for more than a few minutes.

This TV pivot might work if Instagram can actually get creators to start churning out polished series instead of flooding the space with more phone-native content. But without a sharp influx of compelling projects that are crafted specifically for TV viewing, this could end up being another instance of Instagram losing the plot while chasing its competitors.