Meta is the latest Big Tech giant looking to capture consumer consumption on the living room’s largest screen – announcing last week that Instagram Reels short-form videos would be available on connected TV.

Meta categorized the move as a test, with the Instagram CTV app initially coming to Fire TV devices in the U.S. ahead of a broader rollout to additional countries and devices.

IG Reels roll out on TV

Here’s what else Meta’s announcement said about the new Instagram Reels availability on CTV.

“We heard that watching reels together is more enjoyable, and this test will help us learn which features make that experience work best on TV,” stated Meta in a blog.

To access Instagram on TV, users can install the app either on their Fire TV device or through the mobile app. The CTV app allows for up to five accounts for Instagram on TV to deliver personalized reels. It also allows for a separate Instagram TV account that isn’t linked to a user’s mobile profile.

On CTV, Reels will be grouped into channels personalized by interests, including new music, sports highlights, hidden travel gems, trending moments and more. Once a Reel is selected, a video feed will play automatically with full sound and without the need to scroll.

Over time, Meta intends to roll out new Instagram CTV app features, such as the ability to use a mobile phone as a remote to browse, different ways to channel surf, share feeds with friends and make it easier to find favorite creators in one place.

Meta’s move could mean more TV time competition

Instagram Reels availability on CTV comes as fellow tech behemoth Google saw its YouTube platform continue to flex CTV strength in 2025, including in November when the social video platform captured 12.9% of U.S. TV time for the month. 

YouTube’s own short-form vertical video offering, Shorts, became available on CTV in 2022 and in February Google executives said 15% of Shorts viewing in the U.S. was taking place on CTV.

Wolfe Research equity analyst Peter Supino in a note to investors on Sunday wrote that although “likely off a very small base,” Google disclosed views of YouTube Shorts on CTVs grew more than 75% in 2024.

The firm also noted that YouTube and FAST services like Fox’s Tubi and The Roku Channel “are chipping away at premium, long-form video, especially w/younger audiences.”

And thinks the move by Meta brings one more competitor into the CTV fold for consumer time and attention – eventually possibly meaning more need for major media companies and streamers to adapt strategies.

“Over time, Reels should add to the endlessly growing ways for people to spend their TV time, hiking the pressure on Netflix, ESPN, NBC, CBS, Disney and others to expand into shorter formats [emphasis Supino’s],” wrote the analyst in a December 21 research note.

Various streamers in 2025 have been looking at different avenues to incorporate either short-form video or the creators and influencers popular on social video platforms and make them part of the content strategy.

That has been seen on a variety of FAST services like Tubi, Samsung TV Plus and others, with free streaming channels dedicated to creator content, as well as deals to offer reformatted or new original content from popular social video creators and personalities.

In a different example, the Fox One pay TV streamer is leaning into short-form content on a Shorts mobile experience to complement its new direct-to-consumer CTV app and service by the way of aggregated highlights and commentary clips for its sports and news programming.

Disney, meanwhile, is looking to put more than 200 of its storied IP characters in the hands of consumers to create fan-inspired short-form social videos using OpenAI’s genAI Sora platform as part of a landmark deal announced earlier this month. Some of the fan-created short-form videos using Disney IP – which Disney’s Bob Iger said would be of the 30-second variety – are expected to become available on the Disney+ streamer in 2026.

Separately others in the CTV space are bringing social influencers and short-form video assets to CTV via advertising, such as smart TV maker LG, for example. Earlier this year LG was among those that tapped tech vendor Spaceback for shoppable CTV ads that incorporate social video assets on its built-in ad-supported free streamer LG Channels.

Also in 2025, some Spanish-language streamers started to try out ultra short-form serialized content with early forays and plans to lean more heavily into the microdrama format – which is distinct but can be tied to social video.

TelevisaUnivision’s ViX debuted vertical video microdramas on its mobile app earlier this year. While not available on CTV at the get-go, TVU’s Rafael Urbina, president of Streaming and Digital, told StreamTV Insider in August that it was monitoring apps like YouTube Shorts on CTV and ViX was seeing “some strong numbers for our own Shorts consumed on that platform,” suggesting an appetite for short-form on CTV as well.

And Spanish-language AVOD streamer Canela.tv jumped into the space with Canelitas microseries  – which company global president Philippe Guelton told StreamTV Insider will be available in both vertical video and horizontal formats for CTV.   

Article updated to correct the date of Wolfe Research’s investment note to December 21. A prior version incorrectly stated December 22.