Instagram eyes future beyond Reels with TV-ready long-form content

FILE PHOTO (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

As audiences continue to swipe through bite-sized clips by the second, Instagram may already be thinking about what comes after the dominance of Reels.

While the platform built much of its recent momentum around short-form vertical videos, a new discussion from one of its top executives suggests the app could soon widen its creative direction, especially for viewers watching on television screens.

At the Scalable Summit, Instagram Vice President of Product Tessa Lyons revealed that the company is beginning to rethink how content works outside smartphones as creators continue experimenting with reel generator platforms.

“I don’t think short-form vertical content is going to be enough to succeed on TV,” Lyons said during the event.

The comment signals a possible evolution for Instagram, which spent the past few years aggressively pushing short-form videos in response to the rise of TikTok. Reels became central to the app’s identity, shaping trends, creator strategies and even the way users interact online, with many creators also using an AI Instagram post generator to scale their content output.

But as more creators expand into podcasts, livestreams and episodic storytelling, Instagram appears to be considering how it can remain relevant in longer viewing formats as well.

“What we’re thinking about is, how do we best serve the creators who do short-form content but also do long-form content?” she added.

Rather than replacing Reels, Instagram’s new direction seems focused on broadening the platform’s role in digital entertainment.

Lyons shared that within the next two years, Instagram could become “a unique part of creators’ long-form strategy in addition to their short-form strategy.”