Meta Wants Reels to Work and Feel More Like a TV Series

Meta is quietly circling back to an idea it has tried—and abandoned—before. This time, it is betting that the way users watch short-form video has changed enough to make it stick.

The company is testing a new “Series” feature for Reels on Instagram and Facebook, according to a report by TechCrunch. The feature is designed to bundle individual Reels into creator-defined collections, effectively turning fragmented clips into structured, episodic viewing.

Meta says the aim is simple: to make Reels easier to follow as narratives rather than isolated bursts of entertainment. The Series option “is designed to help users keep track of linked videos within a creator-defined set,” while also offering “link shortcuts and collections available on creator profiles,” TechCrunch reported.

Selected creators will soon be able to bundle Reels into themed series, stitching together both new uploads and older clips into a single, ordered run. Each video sits as an “episode” inside a broader arc, with its own space on the creator’s profile.

From there, it behaves more like a mini catalogue than a feed of standalone posts. A viewer who lands on one clip in the Reels tab or their feed can jump straight into the full series, move between episodes, and watch them in sequence. If they want to come back later, they can save the whole set.

Meta says the idea is to “better enable creators to enhance engagement and build community, via linked and/or related clips.” In reality, it’s a quiet shift away from pure scrolling and towards something more intentional, where people follow a thread instead of bouncing from one clip to the next.

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Instagram’s product lead, Tessa Lyons, has been fairly explicit about where things are heading. The platform, she said, is trying to become “a unique part of creators’ long-form strategy in addition to their short-form strategy.” That points to a broader push into formats that last longer than a few seconds—podcasts, livestreams, and more narrative-style video work.

None of this comes out of nowhere. Back in 2019, Instagram experimented with IGTV Series, grouping longer videos into collections as it tried to compete more directly with TikTok and YouTube. A year later, it tried again with “Guides”, a way for creators to curate themed posts and videos in one place.

So this new Series feature doesn’t really feel like something brand new. It’s more a return to familiar ground, adjusted for a platform where short-form video now dominates but longer storytelling is starting to creep back in.

There’s also a clear commercial angle. Serialized content is already working elsewhere. Business Insider has reported that “mini-dramas” are pulling in hundreds of millions of views on TikTok, with the format generating about $1.3 billion in the US in 2025, much of it through direct viewer payments. TikTok has even gone further, launching a dedicated mini-drama app called PineDrama in the US and Brazil.

Meta is clearly paying attention. The appeal isn’t just stronger engagement or better retention. Longer viewing sessions also mean more room for advertising, especially as the company leans further into connected TV. Instagram rolled out an updated CTV app in December, signalling that it’s thinking seriously about living-room screens, not just phones.

Put together, Series sits in an interesting place. It doesn’t replace short-form Reels, which still drive most of the platform’s attention. Instead, it wraps them in structure, nudging Instagram a little closer to episodic viewing—and a little closer to how streaming platforms organise content.