Reels

Reels surpassed 50% of Instagram ads in 2025 as Meta turned the short-video format into a $50B-plus annual-run-rate business.

Who they are

Reels is Meta’s short-form video product across Instagram and Facebook, launched in 2020 and repeatedly positioned in coverage as Instagram’s central video, recommendation and creator format. Stories trace its role from making new short videos default to Reels and shifting Facebook’s video emphasis toward the format, to becoming a major advertising and revenue vehicle for Meta.

The recent arc

Recent coverage has moved beyond Reels’ initial rollout and TikTok-response phase toward monetization, distribution and deeper product structure. Sensor Tower data reported in January 2026 that Reels accounted for more than half of Instagram ads in 2025, up from 35% in 2024, while Meta was reported to have reached a $50B-plus annual run rate. The same reporting placed US time spent on Instagram Reels below TikTok but ahead of YouTube Shorts, making the competitive framing more concrete than in earlier coverage.】【：】【“】【

Instagram has simultaneously widened the format’s surfaces and controls: it tested a Fire TV app for watching Reels on larger screens, introduced “Your Algorithm” to let users inspect and customize topics shaping recommendations, and launched a tool for creators to identify reposted Reels across Instagram and Facebook. The latest stories, on Meta’s Series test, point to an effort to organize old and new Reels into episodic creator hubs rather than treating every clip as a standalone feed item.

The tension

Coverage centers on whether Meta can convert a TikTok-inspired short-video product into a durable creator and advertising platform without sacrificing recommendation quality or creator ownership. TikTok remains the principal competitive reference, including reports that Instagram considered a standalone Reels app and longer videos to compete with it; YouTube Shorts is the other major attention benchmark. Within Meta’s own apps, Reels is also absorbing product priority, from Instagram navigation changes to Facebook’s broader video strategy, while reposting protections acknowledge the difficulty of sustaining a creator ecosystem across those surfaces.

Why it matters

If the current trajectory holds, Reels could increasingly define how Meta packages video inventory, creator tools and AI-driven discovery across Instagram and Facebook, rather than remaining a feature within either app. The Series experiment and TV distribution test suggest an attempt to extend short-form viewing into more structured and larger-screen contexts. Whether that broadening improves creator retention and user control, or merely adds complexity while TikTok keeps its attention lead, remains the consequential open question in the coverage.

Related: Instagram · Meta · Facebook · TikTok · Source: Instagram considers launching a standalone Reels app, improvin