Instagram Brings Reels to the Big Screen, Starting with Amazon Fire TV

Instagram is expanding Reels viewing beyond mobile devices, the company announced on Tuesday. The platform is piloting IG for TV, a new experience that lets users watch Reels on their TVs, beginning with Amazon Fire TV.

By bringing Reels to TV screens, Instagram is positioning itself to better compete with YouTube, which currently dominates the connected-TV space. The company likely wants to capture viewers who prefer watching shorter content while relaxing on the couch—similar to flipping through television channels. For instance, while watching a Netflix title, users may decide they don’t want to watch the whole movie or episode and switch to Reels instead.

IG for TV offers a personalised experience based on each viewer’s interests, showing Reels from creators and content categories they already enjoy. Videos will be organised into channels and topics—including comedy, music, and lifestyle—to make it easier to browse and discover new Reels.

Reels will auto-play, allowing users to watch continuously without scrolling, though the option to skip to the next video remains. Users can also like Reels, view comments, and share them directly from the TV app.

IG for TV can be paired with the Instagram mobile app, allowing up to five accounts to be linked within a single household. Alternatively, users can choose to create a dedicated TV-only account.

Instagram clarified that IG for TV is not the same as IGTV, the company’s long-form video app that was shut down in 2022.

The launch has been anticipated since Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed plans for a TV-specific app last October.

“We’re exploring TV,” Mosseri said at Bloomberg’s Screentime event. “TV is an increasingly important surface—it’s been very important for YouTube […] it’s been very important for TikTok. So we’d like to figure out how to make sure that we show up in a compelling way on all the relevant devices.”

Mosseri acknowledged that Instagram should have pursued a TV app sooner and expressed regret that the company did not begin this effort years earlier.