Instagram for TV adds horizontal video test, conceding vertical's living-room mismatch

The horizontal video test creates a format pathway on Instagram for TV that aligns with how television advertising actually works — 16:9 creative, co-viewed sessions, broadcast production standards. Meta has not announced advertising products for the TV surface, but the format structure is beginning to match the technical requirements of CTV ad buying. YouTube already commands 2 billion monthly Shorts hours on TV screens, and Samsung's June 10 opening of programmatic home screen inventory via The Trade Desk and DV360 demonstrates that the ad infrastructure on these same devices is maturing rapidly. Watch whether Meta details discovery mechanics for horizontal content at its next product update — a format without surfacing logic has no commercial value for creators.

Instagram's horizontal video test is not Meta's first attempt to reconcile format and screen. IGTV, launched in June 2018 by then-CEO Kevin Systrom as a vertical-only long-form product, retreated to accepting landscape uploads in May 2019 after generating only 7 million standalone app downloads against Instagram's billion-plus user base, per TechCrunch. The standalone IGTV app was shut down in March 2022. Instagram for TV, launched on Fire TV in December 2025, starts from the television screen rather than the phone — but the format question that undercut IGTV reappears on the living-room display.

YouTube has already navigated this transition from the opposite direction. YouTube Shorts, launched in July 2021 as a mobile format, now generates 2 billion monthly viewing hours on TV screens, Kurt Wilms, YouTube's Senior Director of Product Management for TV, disclosed on the Creator Insider podcast in May 2026, per TechCrunch. YouTube built a dedicated TV player that places vertical Shorts inside a widescreen environment with comments displayed alongside, and is developing a lean-back autoplay mode. YouTube held a 13% share of all US TV watch time according to Nielsen's Media Distributor Gauge, the largest share since the metric began tracking. Streaming overall accounted for nearly 48% of US television viewing in December 2025, per Nielsen data reported by The Next Web in June 2026.

The CTV advertising infrastructure on the same hardware where Instagram for TV now operates is advancing concurrently. Samsung Ads opened its Smart TV home screen inventory to programmatic buying via The Trade Desk and Google DV360 on June 10, 2026, powered by Magnite's SpringServe ad server, per AdExchanger. Magnite reported CTV contribution ex-TAC of $82.3 million in Q1 2026, up 30% year-over-year and crossing 51% of total company revenue, per its May 6 earnings release. Meta has not announced ad formats for Instagram for TV, but the programmatic infrastructure on Samsung's hardware is already active.

Instagram is also exploring episodic series and live broadcasts for its TV app, building on a "Series" feature it began testing on mobile in early June 2026, per TechCrunch. Tessa Lyons, Instagram's VP of Product, told The Hollywood Reporter that the platform is reaching out to creators to produce microdramas — one-to-three-minute episodic dramas — for the TV surface. Meta told TechCrunch it is considering monetization options for Series content but did not share specifics.