# Instagram TV Expansion and YouTube Pricing Strategy

**Podcast:** TechCrunch Daily Crunch
**Published:** 2026-02-25

## Transcript

This is TechCrunch.
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Safe Viso Steuer.
Hold it down to YouTube's beefing up at 799 a month.
It starts right now.
Right off the bat, it looks like Instagram is expanding its Instagram for TV app to Google TV devices in the good old USA two months after its debut on Amazon Fire TV in December.
Now, the app first launched as a way to expand Reels viewing beyond mobile, and now users can also browse posts from their Instagram feeds directly on their TVs.
By bringing Reels to TV's Instagrams looking to better compete with good old YouTube, which largely dominates the TV space.
Instagram likely wants viewers to switch to its TV app while watching content on the couch, similar to flipping through TV channels.
And not to be left out, Instagram's old rival TikTok also has a TV app.
Now, the new app's personalized to each user as it shows a reels based on the content and creators they enjoy on the Instagram app.
Reels are organized into channels and categories based on topics such as comedy, music, and lifestyle.
No word yet on any Knight Rider categories.
Reels play automatically, which means you won't have to keep scrolling to watch the next video.
The Instagram for TV app lets you like, view, comments, and reshare reels as well.
Users can pair the app with their Instagram app and add up to five accounts all in one home.
Or, well, they can choose to create a new account just for the TV.
Remember Twitch?
Well, it announced on Tuesday that it's revamping its suspensions policy to shift away from its previous all-or-nothing penalty system.
You see, until now, a temporary suspension on Twitch meant losing access to the platform altogether, including the ability to chat, watch streams while logged in, and access basic information.
Well, now.
The company's implementing two suspension types, streaming suspensions and chatting suspensions.
The company notes that while its previous approach was easier to implement, its new targeted enforcement system means that the restrictions will match the specific offense committed.
So if a user violates Twitch's community guidelines during a live stream, their account will be suspended from going live, and chat on their channel will be temporarily disabled.
During a streaming suspension, the user can still watch streams while logged in, chat on other channels, and access their user dashboard.
Plus, viewers will still be able to watch their existing clips and videos.
And if someone violates the company's community guidelines in chat, you can see where this is going, they'll receive a suspension from chat, but will still be able to stream their own content or watch other streamers.
Now, notably, users who receive a chat suspension can still chat in their own channel, but they will be prevented from participating in chats on other streams.
Twitch isn't changing the length of temporary suspensions, as streaming and chatting suspensions will still last anywhere from 24 hours to 30 days.
The company says that with each new violation, the length of the suspension will increase, and that accumulating multiple temporary suspensions can still lead to an indefinite suspension from Twitch.
Twitch determines the severity of a violation by considering the extent of harm it causes or has the potential to cause, and it defines harm as any action that leads to physical, emotional, social, or financial damage to a user or to Twitch.
Plus, the company's working on additional suspension types that'll roll out in future updates.
Looks like YouTube's expanding its more affordable $7.99 per month premium light subscription service with new features, including the ability to download videos for offline access and watch videos in the background, even if the screen is off or you're using other apps.
These options were previously only available to customers on its full plan, which costs $13.99 per month.
How luck's.
The company said the additions were the result of user feedback, as customers in its pilot program shared that they well wanted these specific features to make the subscription more attractive.
Launched all the way back in the Halcyon days of March 2025, YouTube Premium Light introduced a more modestly priced subscription tier that would remove ads from most videos on the platform, including those across popular verticals like gaming, fashion, beauty, cooking, news, and more.
However, ads would continue to be shown on music content and music videos, so take that.
Plus, customers on the light plan won't have access to the ad-free YouTube music app.
With the arrival of these new features, ad-free music content will now be the only reason to upgrade to the full premium subscription.
It'll also likely make the light tier more attractive to customers who didn't want to pay just for ad-free content, but wanted other upgrades as well.
The light subscription tier was first introduced in Thailand.
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