Instagram is taking its ambition to the next level with a TV app. The move is aimed at challenging the living room dominance of YouTube. As of now, there’s no concrete news of the platform working on a TV app, but Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, has confirmed that they are exploring this aspect to bring the entertainment app to TV.
This initiative aligns with the shift in viewing patterns. In the last few years, the audience has shifted to TV a lot. The trend shows they prefer a bigger screen to a mobile device. Additionally, this strategic shift followed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s revelation that Instagram has surpassed 3 billion monthly active users, highlighting the platform's ambition to reach higher peaks of engagement.
During the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on October 9, Instagram head Mosseri talked about the platform's latest plan. He mentioned that Instagram may have been “late” to the television sector, but the company wants to make a compelling presence on all the major devices.
According to his statement, “If behavior and the consumption of these platforms is moving to TV, then we need to move to TV, too.” He even called the lack of an Instagram TV app a “mistake.”
Though no launch time has been stated, the head of Instagram has confirmed that they have no intention of licensing live sports or exclusive Hollywood content for the potential TV platform; they will instead push the reels and short-form video content to the TV App to rival ByteDance’s TikTok and YouTube’s long and short-form videos. This highlights, the app has no plan to enter the premium content race.
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YouTube has become the ultimate choice for many when it comes to watching content for hours. Billions of people dive into YouTube through the TV app. According to recent Nielsen data, YouTube captures a record 13.4% share of total TV viewing in recent months, surpassing Netflix and other streaming services.
With a considerable audience base, this platform currently stands at the top of the US chart, showing off over 1 billion hours of content streamed daily on television screens. The long-form catalog, recommendation system, and seamless device integration make the platform's TV app very popular.
Therefore, for Instagram, it won’t just be an app launch. The task is tougher than that. It has to innovate new ways for navigation, design content, and bring cross-device continuity, to challenge the dominance of YouTube on TV.
Crossing 3 billion users marks a pivotal success point for Instagram. After this point, growth won’t be dependent on new sign-ups entirely. Now, the success will mostly come from contexts and richer engagements. A TV app could provide context and engagement by embedding Instagram into home entertainment.
However, the success still lies in the execution. If Meta authentically represents Instagram’s vertical storytelling and social DNA, it would bring more audience to the platform. Otherwise, there’s a massive chance of downfall. Anyway, Instagram’s TV app ambition
shows its nature to evolve beyond a mobile app.