What Instagram is rolling out
Instagram is introducing two named video formats - Features and Series - while relaunching Instagram Live. Features are horizontal videos up to 90 minutes, a lane for creators who need more time without sending viewers elsewhere. Series is built for short, scripted episodes that mirror the microdrama trend.
Live is getting a visibility lift across the app so broadcasts are easier to find, including for people who do not follow the creator, with placement in recommendations and in the Reels tab. The test is live now, and Instagram anticipates expanding it to Indonesia and to Brazil before the year concludes.
Testing starts right away. A Features beta opens Monday to tens of thousands of US creators. Series is limited for now to a smaller test group across the US, Mexico, and India. Inside Instagram, these formats will ultimately sit alongside Reels.
Why Instagram is changing the product
"Our goal is really to be the best place for social entertainment," said Tessa Lyons, the product VP leading the video buildout under Instagram chief Adam Mosseri. To get there, she said Instagram must expand how people tell stories with video and how audiences find them. She also pointed to TV as a central pillar, noting that viewing is shifting to the big screen, especially for creator-driven programming.
Lyons called out the competitive landscape, but argued Instagram's roots in friend-to-friend sharing give creators an edge in growing communities. "Creators don't just want to put content out in the world," she said. "They want to feel like they're building a community around that content that's deeply engaged with them." That pattern is visible already, as users share Reels through direct messages 4.5 billion times each day.
Mark Zuckerberg added context last week, saying Instagram is seeing record engagement largely driven by video as Meta reported third-quarter results.
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How competitors and formats fit in
TikTok helped make microdramas mainstream - bite-size soaps that started in China and are catching on in Western markets. YouTube, for its part, rolled out "Shorts series" so creators can organize episodes and seasons, and has spent nearly a decade on a living room strategy to put YouTube on every household screen, effectively turning it into modern TV.
Instagram has been slower to pivot from photos to full-on entertainment, but longer videos, episodic shows, and a more visible Live are an attempt to close that gap.
The TV push and the timeline
Instagram has been swinging at TV in the US since last year, debuting its first TV app so viewers could watch Reels on bigger screens. That started as a December trial on Amazon.com Inc.'s Fire TV, then grew to Samsung and Google TV.
On Monday, Instagram arrives on Apple TV in the US. The TV app will not stop at Reels - it is set to add the new formats, and a phone-as-remote feature is coming. Lyons tempered expectations, saying "the TV bet is really early" and will take years. "We are not at a stage right now where we're trying to grow the TV bet - we're really trying to figure out what's working for audiences on TV - but we do think that that's going to be a key part of the next few years of Instagram," including internationally in the near term.
What this means for your portfolio
Reels has a built-in ceiling - clips longer than three minutes are not recommended to fresh audiences. That has pushed comedians, podcasters, vloggers, and others to send viewers off site. Features aims to keep that watch time on Instagram, both on phones and TVs, while Series gives Instagram a native format for booming short-form dramas. Pair that with broader Live discovery and a living room footprint, and Instagram is trying to hold more creator time and audience attention within its walls.
The bottom line: Meta is leaning into video where it is seeing record engagement, while taking a long-run swing at TV. Watch for adoption of Features and Series, the pace of Live discovery expansion in Indonesia and Brazil, and any read-through on time spent from the Apple TV launch.
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