Meta takes on TV and YouTube: Ads Super Burst and 90-minute videos on Instagram

Ads Super Burst is Meta's new reservation buy. You pick a day and a window of 3 to 24 hours, and before launch you know the estimated reach and the price, with delivery guaranteed against that estimate (Meta for Business). It looks a lot like buying a TV spot.

Meta unveiled it on October 15, 2026 at the Brand Building Summit. The same announcement includes Aggregated View Time, a metric that adds up the time a person spends with a brand over a week (Meta for Business). On October 26, eleven days later, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, announced Features, Instagram's new long videos. In his post he places them next to Reels, Series, Live and TV (Instagram, @mosseri).

I think these moves point the same way, toward the budgets that go to TV and YouTube today. Meta is borrowing that world's rules: the booked date and the guaranteed reach.

The summit news also includes First Impression Ads, still in testing: the first ad someone sees when they open the Facebook app (Meta for Business).

What is Meta's Ads Super Burst?

Ads Super Burst is a one-day reservation buy, planned in Reach Planner. The CPM is fixed (Meta Help Center) and you can book up to 180 days ahead (Meta Help Center).

The rules are stricter than in a normal campaign: each person sees the ad only once, and the placements, six across Facebook and Instagram, are all mandatory (Meta Help Center). It goes in the same direction as the tightening of placement exclusions inside ad sets.

On some dates Meta also offers category exclusivity: for the whole campaign, no competitor in your category can advertise alongside you. The Help Center warns that on the most requested days, such as major events or launches, inventory for that date runs out early (Meta Help Center).

In tests over the past few months, Meta writes, half of the Super Bursts reached at least 34 million people in a single day, 14% of US adults online. Median ad recall rose by 2.9 points (Meta for Business). The method isn't in the post, so these are figures stated by Meta. Meta itself labels Super Burst in TV terms: "TV-like scale" and category exclusivity.

There's also the longer version, Ads Burst, which runs for 2 to 5 days. These are the differences, taken from Meta's Help Center.

Can you buy Ads Super Burst in your country, and what does it cost?

It isn't clear which countries can buy Ads Super Burst yet: Meta talks about a phased rollout and doesn't say where (Meta for Business). The Help Center page also exists in Italian and Spanish, but that alone doesn't show the product can be bought in those markets. The audience can only be set at the level of a single country (Meta Help Center).

The Help Center pages have no rate card. The estimate of reach and price comes in Reach Planner (Meta for Business). The minimum budget is usually higher than for a normal campaign, and for the amount Meta refers you to your sales representative (Meta Help Center).

What's changing in Reels Trending Ads?

Reels Trending Ads place your ad right after the most-watched Reels of the moment, on Facebook and Instagram. There are now 15 fixed topics to choose from, plus some seasonal packages, such as the holidays. By the end of the year you'll also be able to exclude custom audiences (Meta for Business).

According to Meta, in campaigns that included them action intent rose by more than 5 points compared with people who hadn't seen the campaign, and unaided brand awareness by 5 points (Meta for Business). Here too, the method isn't in the post.

The reason lies in the time people spend on video. According to Meta, Reels make up more than half of the time spent on Instagram (Meta for Business), and video accounts for over 60% of the time on Facebook and Instagram together (Meta for Business).

What is Aggregated View Time?

Aggregated View Time is a way to measure and optimize short-form video that adds up the time a person spends with your brand over a week, instead of judging each view on its own. Meta calls it a product in alpha, meaning very early testing.

Meta explains where the change comes from. For years the industry treated a long view as the sign that a video works, because that's how television worked. According to Meta's data, five seconds of attention added up over a week drove 32% more offline sales than a single continuous five-second view (Meta for Business).

That 32% should be taken with caution, because the method isn't in the post. It's still a useful idea for anyone working on creative: many short views of the same brand add up, even if none of them, on its own, looks like much.

What are Features, Instagram's videos of up to 90 minutes?

Features is the name of Instagram's new long videos, which can run up to 90 minutes. Mosseri wrote that Instagram is investing in them and that for now it's a test (Instagram, @mosseri). To see the jump: today you can record a reel of up to 20 minutes, and above 3 minutes Instagram doesn't recommend it to new audiences (Instagram Help Center).

The other part of the story is the screen. I checked the App Store: Instagram's listing now includes Apple TV, and the description promises longer videos to watch with friends and live shows, all from your TV.

Apple TV isn't the only TV platform. In June, when the app reached Samsung sets, Meta wrote that Instagram for TV was now on most connected TV devices in the US (Meta).

The text of Mosseri's post doesn't mention advertising inside Features.

Why is Meta looking at TV and YouTube budgets?

I think it's because Meta already has the part of the budget that buys results, measurable click by click, and now it's looking at the part that buys awareness. Until now that part has gone mostly to TV, partly because there you buy a date knowing in advance how many people will see the spot. Super Burst answers that need. Features and Instagram for TV are preparing the ground to do the same on the big screen.

The moves point that way. Meta describes Super Burst with the phrase "TV-like scale", and presents Aggregated View Time as the alternative to a measure born with television (Meta for Business). Mosseri, in his post on Features, puts TV next to Reels. And with the app on televisions, Instagram walks into the living room, the same screen where people watch YouTube today.

In the documents I cite, though, Meta doesn't say it wants to take budget from TV or YouTube. In the Q3 earnings call, on October 21, it never mentions TV or YouTube.

What does this mean if you run Meta Ads?

For many clients Meta is the results channel, while the awareness budget goes elsewhere. This news gives you arguments to bring part of it to Meta, as long as you don't promise more than what exists.

• Ask your Meta rep whether Ads Burst and Ads Super Burst can be bought for your client, and on which dates category exclusivity is available.
• Pitch the burst for a date that really matters, such as a launch or Black Friday.
• Measure awareness with the right tools, such as a brand lift: a one-day reach buy shouldn't be judged on the ROAS of a conversion campaign.
• Don't promise ads in Features until Meta presents a format you can buy.

Read also

More notes on how working with Meta Ads is changing:

• If Meta's algorithm decides almost everything, what's left for you to do
• Style Sketch, Meta's app that dresses you from your own closet: what changes for fashion brands