Social Rocket
Instagram is taking the next step from the smartphone toward the living room: Instagram for TV is now available in the USA on Samsung Smart TVs, Google TV and Amazon Fire TV. At the same time, Meta is testing new TV features such as Stories on the big screen, casting Reels from the smartphone, and a dedicated area for horizontal videos. Over the longer term, longer creator videos, episodic series and live formats are also meant to follow on the TV.
Meta announced the expansion on 22 June 2026 in its official newsroom. Important for German users: the current TV app is still limited to the USA. Meta has not yet named a date for Germany.
Instagram for TV now runs on three major TV platforms
After launching on Amazon Fire TV at the end of 2025 and expanding to Google TV in February 2026, Instagram for TV is now also available on Samsung Smart TVs from model year 2020. According to Meta, the app now covers the majority of connected TV devices in the USA.
The TV interface sorts Reels into interest-based channels. In addition, Meta is testing direct casting of saved Reels from the smartphone, Stories on the TV, and an area for horizontal videos.
This brings Instagram closer to lean-back viewing, which until now was associated mainly with YouTube and classic streaming offers. How far this shift has already gone at YouTube is shown in our article on Connected TV and YouTube marketing.
Longer videos, series and live are expected to follow
Meta names three formats that continue to be tested for Instagram for TV:
- longer creator videos,
- episodic series across multiple episodes,
- live content on the TV.
For creators and brands, this is more interesting than the device expansion alone. Instagram would then not just mirror short vertical Reels onto a larger screen, but more actively promote content produced deliberately for longer viewing sessions and recurring formats.
Social Media Examiner also classifies the development as a signal, in a current practical article on new Instagram reach formats, that Instagram is moving beyond classic mobile use.
What this means for brands
For German marketing teams, there is currently no reason to shift content production to TV. The app is not yet available here, and Meta explicitly describes several of the new formats as tests or planned extensions.
Nevertheless, the development is worth watching as a strategic signal: if Instagram brings more video to the TV, horizontally produced content, series logic and longer creator formats could potentially gain importance. Brands that already produce YouTube videos, podcasts or recurring video series could more easily play existing material across additional screens in the future.
In parallel, Meta is also expanding the payment and AI layer around Instagram. Our overview of Meta AI Core, AI Premium and Instagram Plus fits in here. For the economic side of creator platforms, you can also read our comparison of how YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and others pay creators.
The relevant point is therefore less "Instagram is coming to German TVs tomorrow" and more: Meta increasingly treats Instagram as a video platform for multiple screens rather than exclusively as a smartphone app.