Meta Tests Reels-First Facebook UX in India, Its 400M-User Market

Meta has begun testing a Facebook app experience in India that sends some users straight into full-screen video when they open the app, putting Reels front and center in the company's largest market by users — more than 400 million people, per Meta's own advertising tools.

Facebook head Tom Alison first outlined the plan in July, saying Meta would test the more immersive, video-forward experience later this year in "video-heavy countries" outside the U.S., without naming them. He added that the company would explore bringing the experience to the U.S. next year.

The India test matches that roadmap. It also continues a pattern: Meta has used India as a proving ground for its video products before.

What does the test change for users?

Users included in the test can opt out and return to a Feed-first experience, Meta confirmed. The classic feed stays available as a second tab in the app. So the shift is a default change, not a removal — but defaults matter, and creators who have built their distribution on feed posts could see reach patterns shift for test cohorts.

The test builds on earlier structural moves. Last year, Meta said all new videos posted to Facebook would be shared as Reels regardless of length or format, and it renamed the app's Video tab to "Reels." The company has also said young adults spend about 60% of their time on Facebook watching videos.

India is familiar territory for these experiments. In 2020, Instagram began testing a dedicated Reels tab in the country, months after India banned TikTok. Last year, Meta tested a Reels-first Instagram experience for some users in India and South Korea that similarly opened directly into the video UX.

How strong is the video signal in India?

Meta's own data, released in June from company-commissioned studies, makes the commercial logic explicit:

• At least 97% of surveyed users in India said they watch video on Meta's platforms daily.
• 89% of Gen Z respondents said they use Reels every day.
• Meta has described Reels as increasingly becoming India's "personal and primary screen."

Those are vendor-commissioned figures, so treat them as directional rather than independent benchmarks. Still, they align with the behavioral trend Meta cites platform-wide, and they explain why India — not the U.S. — gets the first test.

What should practitioners watch?

For marketers and creators, the immediate implications are limited to India-based test cohorts, but the direction is clear. If Facebook defaults to video for a meaningful share of its biggest market, feed-first content strategies lose surface area, and short-form video production capacity becomes a baseline requirement rather than a differentiator.

The opt-out mechanism and the feed's continued availability as a second tab suggest Meta is testing tolerance, not forcing migration yet. How retention holds among test users — and whether the experience moves to the U.S. next year, as Alison signaled — will determine whether Reels-first becomes Facebook's global default or stays a regional experiment.