Facebook tests sending some users straight into Reels in India

Meta has started testing a new Facebook experience in India that sends some users directly into full-screen video when they open the app, putting Reels front and center instead of the traditional feed.

The test follows plans Facebook head Tom Alison first outlined in July, when he said Meta intended to begin testing a more video-forward experience later in the year in “video-heavy countries” outside the U.S., without naming which ones at the time. Alison said Meta will explore bringing the same experience to the U.S. next year. Users included in the India test can opt out and return to a feed-first experience, Meta said; the classic feed remains available as a second tab in the app.

The test is part of a broader push by Meta to make video more central to Facebook. Last year, the company said all new videos posted to Facebook would be shared as Reels, regardless of length or format, and renamed the app’s Video tab to “Reels.” Meta has said young adults spend about 60% of their time on Facebook watching video.

India has long served as a proving ground for Meta’s video ambitions, particularly its push into short-form video. Instagram began testing a dedicated Reels tab in the country in 2020, months after India banned TikTok. Meta also tested a Reels-first experience for some Instagram users in India and South Korea last year, similarly sending them directly into the video interface on opening the app.

The new test arrives as video consumption keeps rising across Meta’s apps in India. At least 97% of users surveyed in Meta-commissioned studies said they watch video on its platforms daily, and 89% of Gen Z respondents said they use Reels every day, according to figures the company released in June. Meta has described Reels as increasingly becoming India’s “personal and primary screen.”

India is Facebook’s largest market by users, with Meta’s own advertising tools indicating an audience of more than 400 million people in the country.

Why it matters

If the India test succeeds, Meta has signaled it plans to bring a Reels-first Facebook to the U.S. next year, which would mark a structural shift in how the platform’s single largest market — and eventually its home market — experiences the app.