Meta Tests New ‘Series’ Feature for Reels on Instagram and Facebook
Meta is looking to expand its social media engagement with a new feature for Reels: Series. It is currently undergoing testing with a small number of creators, and will be implemented in order to ease navigation for viewers of episodic content on Instagram and Facebook.
The change is a sign of a potential pivot in Meta’s short form video initiative. The new Series feature has been designed to promote longer-term engagement by viewers with video by grouping together related videos that form a series.
It’s yet another sign that Meta is copying other successful video formats that are trending on other platforms, as it looks poised to compete with other short-form video apps as the format grows more competitive.
What is a Series?
The Series feature is used to organize a collection of multiple Reels into a single series. Each Reel is a segment of an overall story, tutorial, challenge, or content journey.
All episodes will be accessible from the creator’s profile page, rather than viewers having to scroll through a creator’s profile to find the previous ones.
The feature not only allows creators to upload new Reels but also enables them to schedule the previously published content into meaningful series, providing greater flexibility and control.
One example would be a creator hosting a “10 Days of Healthier Baking” challenge in which each of the 10 videos gets hosted in a single series, so that viewers can watch them in order and easily catch up on missing videos during the challenge.
Fostering long viewer viewing time
Typically, short-form video apps focus on endless scrolling and quick content finding. People tend to watch videos very fast and skip them within a few seconds.
Meta’s new strategy appears to be one that tries to strike a balance between content discovery and content retention.
The episodic experience idea is meant to make viewers’ decisions to come back for the next entry more likely. This will establish more loyal viewers and may ultimately lead to more total time spent on the platform.
The approach is similar to what is already happening in the wider arena of digital entertainment: serialised content can achieve increased audience engagement than a single post.
The feature is a chance for creators to spark anticipation, cultivate recurring themes, and foster deeper connections with their followers by fostering a continuous narrative.
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It’s not a new concept. In 2023, TikTok launched its very own Series feature, which enables creators to group high-value content into collections for viewers to access behind a paywall.
Industry experts say that monetisation may be part of Meta’s plans in the future, though not now as the app is currently about content organisation and its discovery rather than paid access.
The company has already admitted that it is considering new ways to monetize the Series feature, but not yet specified.
However, with TikTok’s approach, creators may eventually have the opportunity to monetize their content with exclusive education, tutorials, courses, or premium episodic series.
This would be consistent with Meta’s more recent push to offer creators more ways to monetize their content and less ad revenue.
Improved Discovery and Navigation
One of the key benefits of the Series feature is improved content discoverability.
Users will be able to see an option to watch the whole series if they see an episode while they are reading their feed or scrolling through the Reels. This enables viewers to watch the other episodes, view content in order, and understand the creator’s story/topic in greater depth.
Also, the user is able to save a series to visit later and track their progress.
This will allow for a more structured viewing experience, similar to that of streaming platforms, where the audience can resume their viewing from a point in time.
This may enhance the viewing experience and engagement for everyone from fitness trainers and chefs to educators and storytellers.
Benefits for Creators
For creators that create multi-part content regularly, the introduction of Series may be especially helpful.
Currently, when creators make their videos, they are using the caption, hashtags, or comments to guide the viewers to their previous videos. It can be tedious for creators and viewers.
Content is more easily organized, navigated, and consumed in Series.
Potential use-cases are:
Education tutorials and education courses
The things that cause a fitness and wellness challenge.
Preparing and cooking a variety of recipes.
Travel diaries
Story telling and entertainment content
Product reviews and demonstrations.
Step-by-step DIY projects
This will make episodic content more accessible, which can lead to higher watch time, user retention and engagement.
A strategic shift for reels.
The rollout of Series represents a larger shift in Meta’s thinking on the role short-form video content plays.
The company isn’t just interested in viral standalone pieces of content, but in deeper content ecosystems that can create more extended engagement time.
