Instagram TV app in planning: Reels on the big screen could challenge YouTube's dominance

From smartphone to smart TV

Three billion people now use Instagram every month, according to platform boss Adam Mosseri at the Screentime Conference in Los Angeles, according to Bloomberg. There he also said the sentence that caused a stir: "I wish we had explored it years ago." This refers to the development of a TV app that will make Reels available on large screens in the future.

What sounds like a logical product upgrade at first glance is actually a strategic change of course. Until now, the TV was the last medium that Instagram had not conquered - a domain in which YouTube reigns almost unrivaled. According to YouTube Data Insights, users in the US already consume over one billion hours of YouTube on smart TVs every day, meaning that TV has overtaken smartphones as a playback device.

So there is more at stake for Instagram than just a new app. It's about nothing less than the question of how social video will establish itself in the living room - and how brands will adapt their creator strategies to a format that no longer works vertically, but horizontally.

TikTok as a forerunner and a warning signal

TikTok has already proven that social video can work on TV and at the same time shown how difficult it is to build lasting relevance there. In 2021, the platform launched its own TV app for Amazon Fire TV, but usage remained low. The first version was discontinued in 2025, before being relaunched with longer content for couch-bound audiences.
Instagram is pursuing this path with more strategic consideration. The platform is more focused on creative creator content and brand integrations, and reels are seen as the engine of its growth. If the TV app is launched, it will be less of a classic streaming service and more of a social hub in the living room - a place where creator content, brands and communities come together in a new way.

Why the living room creates new rules of the game for brands

The TV is not just another screen, but a completely different usage scenario. Here, creator clips compete with series, news and entertainment shows and this changes what it means to attract attention.

On the smartphone, consumption is impulsive: a swipe, a like, a comment. On TV, on the other hand, consumption is more deliberate, longer and more communal. Families, groups of friends or partners watch together, which makes interactions more emotional, but also more critical.
Brands that understand this dynamic quickly realize that the standards for reach, relevance and storytelling are shifting. Authentic content suddenly has to be convincing in 4K too. Creators need to adapt their storytelling to a larger format. And brands need data to understand which voices work on the big screen and which are quieter.
This is where IROIN® comes in: the Influencer Marketing Suite provides the data brands need to plan, test and manage this new level of reach.

How IROIN® makes data-based TV reach possible

The move to TV is changing the rules of content production. Brands need to know which creators are capable of designing content that works on big screens. With IROIN®Discovery, this selection is data-based, not felt.

The module allows creators to be analyzed according to content style, platform and target groups. By evaluating channel and reel performance, brands can see who regularly produces high-quality content, who is successful with longer formats and which topics resonate with which audiences. This allows creators to be identified who have the creative and technical potential to successfully master the step from vertical display to the TV screen even before the format is officially launched.

But selection alone is not enough. Success on new platforms is built on relationships, not one-off bookings. This is where Influencer Relationship Management (IRM) from IROIN® comes into its own.

It offers brands a complete overview of all creator relationships, from the first cooperation to long-term partnerships. Especially when formats and devices change, this continuity is crucial. Brands that accompany creators as they try out new formats gain valuable insights into engagement development, topic changes and target group behavior. IRM makes visible who performs consistently, which content is sustainable and how creators can be integrated into a brand strategy in the long term.

This combination creates a new understanding of the influencer relationship: less transactional, more strategic and adaptive. As social video moves towards streaming, trust - between brand, creator and community - is the real currency.

The operational framework is provided by IROIN®Campaigning. The module makes it possible to control campaigns in real time and to release or adapt content as soon as user behavior or sentiment changes. Performance data, comments and reach trends are brought together centrally so that decisions are based on reliable signals. Brands no longer have to react when a problem becomes visible, they recognize it before it arises.


At a time when platforms are changing faster than campaign cycles, this ability is becoming a real competitive advantage.

Creator Economy x Big Screen

Instagram is not entering a new playing field with its own TV app, it is expanding the old one. The platform brings social video into the environment of traditional entertainment, where brand presence works differently: less as a commercial, more as narrative integration.

For the first time, YouTube is being squeezed by social content platforms that focus not only on reach but also on creator authenticity. At the same time, new advertising spaces are emerging that brands can use without falling into traditional advertising patterns. For creators, on the other hand, the development is an opportunity to professionalize their content and place it in an environment that was previously reserved for large media productions. Anyone producing reels today could be showing "Social Series" on TV tomorrow.

IROIN® provides the infrastructure for this development to turn experiments into scaling. Discovery provides data-based creator selection, IRM for sustainable relationships and campaigning for operational control. Together, they form a system that enables brands not only to accompany social video, but to actively shape it - across devices, platforms and formats.

The TV becomes the next social platform

Instagram is not just testing a new interface - it is testing the future of social reach. When reels find their way onto televisions, the way digital brand communication works will change. Reach will no longer be measured in clicks, but in experiences.

Brands that focus their creator strategy on multiscreen performance now will secure a decisive advantage. The IROIN®Suite offers them the foundation for this - Discovery for data-based creator analysis, IRM for relationship management and Campaigning for adaptive control.

What is created here is more than a toolset. It is a strategic operating system for influencer marketing in the age of the connected screen.
Because the future of social media will not only take place in the feed, it will soon be in the living room.