17 Instagram Reels Statistics You Need To Know For 2024

Do you know how influential Instagram Reels has become?

In this post, we share statistics on how many views Instagram reels receive as well as the best time to post on the platform.

General Instagram reels stats

1. Instagram Reels has 2 billion monthly active users

Because Instagram does not distinguish Instagram Reels from the main Instagram platform, we must count all Instagram users as Instagram Reels users.

And because Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users (MAUs), this means Instagram Reels also has 2 billion MAUs.

Here’s how this number compares to the top five social media platforms, ranked by MAUs:

• Facebook – This platform has 3.07 billion monthly active users
• YouTube – 2.5 billion
• Instagram – 2 billion
• WhatsApp – 2 billion
• TikTok – 1.6 billion

Source: Statista¹

Our social media stats article has more information, if you’d like to learn more.

2. The volume of content added to Instagram Reels has increased by 46% year over year

According to SocialInsider’s Industry Benchmarks report for 2024, the volume of Instagram Reels increased by 46% between 2022 and 2023.

Over 20% of Instagram content was published to Reels in 2022. That number reached over 30% in 2023.

The trend here is a focus on posting Instagram reels and less on posting single-image posts.

More Instagram influencers and brands are posting on Instagram Reels.

The volume of carousel posts has more or less remained the same.

Source: SocialInsider

3. The average reach of an Instagram reel posted by accounts with more than 50,000 followers decreased by 49.95% between 2022 and 2023

According to data collected by Metricool and published by Statista, the average reach of an Instagram reel decreased by 49.95% between 2022 and 2023.

In 2022, Instagram reels had an average reach of 95,600 each. This is among followers of accounts that have between 50,000 and 45 million followers.

In 2023, that number decreased to 47,851.

Here’s the average reach among followers from accounts of different sizes:

• 50,000 to 45 million followers – Accounts of this size have an average reach of 47,851 per Instagram reel
• 10,000 to 50,000 followers – 6,243
• 2,000 to 10,000 followers – 1,726
• 500 to 2,000 followers – 753
• 0 to 500 followers – 288

Source: Statista²

4. Instagram reels posted by accounts with 100,000 to 1 million followers receive an average impression rate of over 30%

SocialInsider’s latest Instagram Benchmarks report for 2024 revealed that Instagram accounts that have between 100,000 and 1 million followers receive an average impression rate of over 30%.

These accounts’ average impression rates for carousel and image posts are lower than 20%.

The average impression rate of an Instagram reel skyrockets to over 70% for accounts with 1,000 to 5,000 followers.

The average impression rate of accounts with followings between 5,000 and 100,000 is around 40%.

Source: SocialInsider

5. 97.75% of Meta’s revenue from one quarter came from ads

Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and unfortunately, the company does not break down its earnings by platform.

The company earned $36.5 billion in revenue in Quarter 1 of 2024.

$35.6 billion, or 97.75%, of that revenue came from advertisements the company runs across Facebook and Instagram, including Instagram Reels.

Source: Meta’s Earnings Release from Q1 2024

6. 100% of the Instagram Reels API is available to developers

According to Facebook’s newsroom for developers, developers were given 100% access to the Instagram Reels API in the summer of 2022.

Access to the API makes it easier for Instagram scheduling apps to provide support for Instagram Reels, which means you can schedule Instagram reels in advance alongside regular Instagram content in the tool of your choice.

Source: Facebook

Usage statistics for Instagram reels

7. The average Instagram reel receives 16,153 views

Metricool analyzed short-form videos from four different platforms: Instagram Reels, TikTok, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts.

For Instagram Reels, they analyzed over 1.6 million videos published by over 232,000 accounts.

They discovered that on average, Instagram reels receive 16,152.88 views each.

Here’s how this compares to short-form videos from other platforms:

• TikTok – Short-form videos on this platform receive an average of 18,173.32 views per video
• Instagram Reels – 16,152.88 views
• Facebook Reels – 8,553.37 views
• YouTube Shorts – 646.89 views

Source: Metricool

8. Instagram accounts with more than 50,000 followers receive 65,800 views per reel on average

When Metricool studied short-form video platforms, they analyzed the number of video views accounts of different sizes receive on average.

They discovered that the largest Instagram accounts, or those that have more than 50,000 followers, receive an average of 65,800 views per reel.

Metricool has given accounts of this size the label “huge.”

Here’s how many views accounts of other sizes receive:

• 50,000+ followers (Huge) – Instagram accounts that have this many followers receive an average of 65,800 views per reel
• 10,001 to 50,000 followers (Big) – 9,000 views per reel
• 2,001 to 10,000 followers (Medium) – 2,900 views per reel
• 501 to 2,000 followers (Small) – 1,200 views per reel
• 0 to 500 followers (Tiny) – 558 views per reel

Here’s how many views “huge” creators on other platforms receive from short-form videos:

• TikTok – Creators on this platform who have over 50,000 followers receive 91,400 views per short-form video on average
• Instagram Reels – 65,800 views
• Facebook Reels – 37,500 views
• YouTube Shorts – 5,700 views

Source: Metricool

9. The average Instagram reel has an engagement rate of 5.53%

According to Metricool’s study, Instagram reels have an average engagement rate of 5.53%.

Here’s how this platform’s engagement rate compares to similar platforms:

• YouTube Shorts – This platform’s average engagement rate is 5.91%
• TikTok – 5.75%
• Instagram Reels – 5.53%
• Facebook Reels – 2.07%

And here are the average engagement rates of reels posted by Instagram accounts of different sizes:

• 50,000+ followers (Huge) – Instagram accounts with this many followers receive an average engagement rate of 5.54% per reel
• 10,001 to 50,000 followers (Big) – 5.45%
• 2,001 to 10,000 followers (Medium) – 5.65%
• 501 to 2,000 followers (Small) – 5.19%
• 0 to 500 followers (Tiny) – 6.08%

Source: Metricool

10. The average engagement rate of Instagram Reels has decreased by 20% year over year

According to SocialInsider’s Instagram Benchmarks report for 2024, the average engagement rate of an Instagram reel decreased by 20% year over year.

Their study revealed the average engagement rate of an Instagram reel to be 1.48% whereas it’s 0.91% for carousel posts and 0.69% for image posts.

The average engagement rate of an Instagram reel started at just under 2% at the start of 2023, peaked to over 2.5% in July before finally settling at about 1.5% during the last few months of the year.

Carousel posts maintained a steady engagement rate of about 1% on average whereas image posts had a steady average engagement rate of about 0.75%.

Source: SocialInsider

11. The average Instagram reel receives 243 likes

According to data published by Statista, the average Instagram reel receives 243 likes and receives more likes than it does comments and saves.

Instagram reels receive eight comments and 28 saves on average.

In comparison, the average Instagram post receives 198 likes, 10 comments and 11 saves.

Source: Statista³

12. Instagram accounts with 100,000 to 1 million followers receive 400 saves on reels on average

According to SocialInsider’s study, Instagram accounts that have between 100,000 and 1 million followers receive an average number of 400 saves on Instagram reels.

They receive around 200 saves on carousel posts and around 100 saves on image posts.

Instagram accounts with fewer than 100,000 followers receive less than 100 saves per reel on average.

Source: SocialInsider

13. Instagram Reels accounts with more than 50,000 followers post 0.55 reels per day

According to Metricool, there’s not much difference between the number of short-form videos Instagram creators publish versus the number of videos creators from other platforms publish.

There also doesn’t seem to be much difference between the number of reels a “huge” creator posts versus the number a “tiny” creator does.

An Instagram creator with over 50,000 followers posts 0.55 reels per day on average, which is very similar to the number of posts other types of creators publish on a daily basis.

Here’s how many short-form videos “huge” creators publish per day on different platforms:

• TikTok – TikTok creators with more than 50,000 followers post 0.9 short-form videos per day
• YouTube Shorts – 0.66 per day
• Instagram Reels – 0.55 per day
• Facebook Reels – 0.38 per day

And here’s how many short-form videos Instagram creators of different sizes publish on a daily basis:

• 50,000+ followers (Huge) – Instagram creators with this many followers publish 0.55 reels per day on average
• 10,001 to 50,000 followers (Big) – 0.29 per day
• 2,001 to 10,000 followers (Medium) – 0.21 per day
• 501 to 2,000 followers (Small) – 0.18 per day
• 0 to 500 followers (Tiny) – 0.18 per day

Source: Metricool

Statistics on the best time to publish Instagram reels

14. Instagram reels that are published at midnight receive 25,159 views on average

According to Metricool, Instagram reels that are published at midnight receive the highest number of views on average.

Their data reveals that posting reels at midnight results in an average view count of 25,159 per reel.

In fact, 8PM to midnight seem to be the best times to post Instagram reels with views with views reaching 15,000 to 20,000 per video during this timeframe.

The worst times to publish reels appear to be 1AM and 7AM where views fall below 15,000 for each time slot.

Source: Metricool

15. An average of 119,704 Instagram reels are published everyday at 6PM

Metricool’s data on Instagram Reels reveals that the majority of Instagram creators publish reels at 6PM.

Their data shows that an average of 119,704 reels are published at this time on a daily basis.

Fewer than 50,000 reels are published at midnight when views are highest.

Less than 25,000 reels are published at 5AM.

Source: Metricool

16. Instagram reels that are published on Sundays receive 22,096 views each on average

According to Metricool’s data on Instagram reels, reels that are published on Sundays receive an average of 22,096 views each.

Reels published on Saturdays get a lot of attention as well, receiving more than 15,000 views per video on average.

Videos published on other days of the week receive around 15,000 views each on average.

Source: Metricool

17. 132,555 Instagram reels are published every Tuesday on average

According to Metricool’s data, most Instagram creators publish reels on Tuesday.

132,555 reels are published on this day every week on average. Yet, reels that are published on this day only receive 14,900 views each.

Reels receive the highest number of views when they’re published on Sundays. Yet, only 88,258 reels are published on this day every week.

Saturday receives the lowest number of new reel uploads while Monday receives the second highest.

Source: Metricool

Final thoughts

That concludes our post on Instagram Reels statistics.

We learned how important the Instagram Reels feature is for Instagram as well as how much it dominates the short-form video format.

If you need more help with your Instagram strategy, check out our post on getting more Instagram followers.

We also have a post detailing the number of followers you need to make money on Instagram.

We also have a post on the best tools to use for Instagram if you need help with this aspect of social media marketing.

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