Skip rate

Instagram’s descriptions of skipping differ between Feed and Reels in Meta’s Transparency Center12. For Feed, it lists how likely a person is to skip a post compared with other posts shown alongside it, and it considers the media type when estimating expected viewing time1. For Reels, it lists counts of skips within two seconds of opening a post and the authors whose Reels a person has watched for less than three seconds2.

For creators addressing quick departures from Reels, Mosseri recommends planning a hook—how the video will capture someone’s attention in its first three seconds3. He says creators can open Insights to see their drop-off rate and assess whether those opening seconds hold viewers’ attention; this is distinct from the skipping predictions, counts and viewing histories in Meta’s system descriptions123.