Instagram for TV is expanding to Samsung smart TVs across the United States, making the app available on the majority of connected TV devices in the country. Meta announced Monday that the expansion comes alongside several new features, including interest-based channels, phone-to-TV casting, and the ability to watch Stories on the big screen.

The Samsung rollout covers smart TVs from the 2020 model year and newer. Instagram for TV first launched on Amazon Fire TV devices in December 2025, then expanded to Google TV in February 2026. With Samsung now included, the app reaches the three largest connected TV platforms in the US market.

More significant than the device expansion is what Meta is building next. The company said it is exploring longer-form video formats for the TV app, including episodic series that unfold across multiple episodes and Live on TV, which would bring live creator broadcasts to the big screen for the first time.

The episodic series format builds on a feature Meta began testing on mobile earlier this month. On June 2, the company started rolling out “Series” to select creators on Instagram and Facebook, allowing them to group Reels into sequential episodes with a dedicated hub on their profile. Viewers who discover an episode in their feed can tap through to the full series, save it, or follow for updates.

Meta told TechCrunch it is considering ways to monetise the Series feature but did not share specifics. The company is also testing a dedicated home for horizontal videos within the TV app, an acknowledgement that content designed for phone screens does not always translate well to a 55-inch display.

The new channels feature organises Reels into interest-based categories, including comedy, sports, music, and trending content, making it easier to browse without a specific creator in mind. Casting lets users send Reels from their phone to the TV in a few taps, including videos from the Saved tab, a feature already available on Fire TV and Google TV.

The strategic context is hard to miss. YouTube held a 13 percent share of all US TV watch time according to Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, the largest share since the metric began tracking in late 2023. YouTube’s connected TV business is growing faster than any traditional streaming service, and every minute a viewer spends watching Reels on a television is a minute not spent on YouTube or Netflix.

TikTok is struggling with its own content quality problems, with a recent Kapwing study finding that nearly 60 percent of videos shown to new accounts are AI-generated junk. Instagram’s push into the living room comes at a moment when its primary short-form competitor is facing credibility issues on the content side, potentially giving Meta an opening to position Reels as the higher-quality alternative.

Meta has been investing heavily in creators to fuel the content pipeline. The company launched Creator Fast Track in March, paying established TikTok and YouTube creators up to three thousand dollars per month to post Reels on Facebook. In 2025, Facebook paid creators nearly three billion dollars through its monetisation programmes, a 35 percent increase year over year, with 60 percent of that going to Reels.

The living room push also represents Meta’s second serious attempt at getting Instagram onto television screens. IGTV launched in 2018 as Instagram’s answer to YouTube, offering videos up to one hour long, but the feature was a high-profile failure. Only seven million people downloaded the standalone app, Instagram removed the IGTV button from its home screen within 18 months, and the format was quietly retired in favour of Reels.

The difference this time is that Instagram is not trying to compete with YouTube on YouTube’s terms. Instead of asking creators to produce hour-long videos for a mobile-first audience, the TV app takes content that already exists, short-form Reels, and puts it on a bigger screen. The episodic series and longer-form formats are being layered on top gradually rather than launched as a standalone product.

Connected TV advertising is also a growing revenue opportunity for Meta. Advertiser intent to increase spending on connected TV is among the strongest of any channel, with net intent at 82 percent according to industry surveys, compared with 56 percent for paid social. Bringing Instagram’s ad-supported Reels to television screens gives Meta access to a new pool of advertising budgets that have traditionally gone to streaming services and broadcast networks.

There are notable limitations. The TV app is currently US-only with no announced international expansion dates, and the episodic series and Live on TV formats are described as explorations rather than confirmed launches. Meta did not provide a timeline for either feature, and the horizontal video hub is also still in testing.

Streaming accounted for nearly 48 percent of total US television viewing time in December 2025 according to Nielsen, the highest share on record. That figure has continued to climb in 2026, and Meta is betting that social video can claim a meaningful share of living room attention alongside traditional streaming services.

Whether Instagram for TV becomes a daily habit or a curiosity depends on whether the content can hold attention for longer than a quick scroll. The episodic series format and live broadcasts suggest Meta understands that, and is trying to give viewers a reason to stay on the app rather than switching to something with a plot.