Topics · Metric
Video views
How it has changed
- 2016
February
Instagram announced that view counts would begin appearing beneath videos in place of likes, with likes accessible by tapping the view count.3
- 2023
November
Mosseri announced that repeat watches of Reels would start contributing to video view counts.1
- 2024
August
Mosseri announced a rollout making Views the primary Insights metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels instead of using different headline metrics across formats.4
Reading view counts in Insights
Instagram’s Help Center lists Views alongside Interactions, New followers and Content you shared in the app’s Insights overview.5 For a closer look at an individual video’s performance, creators can also open Insights for specific Reels, posts and live videos.5 When interpreting those results, follower count still provides context: Mosseri said that accounts with more followers generally reach more people on average.2
What you can do
- To read a metric’s definition in Instagram Insights, tap the metric for more detail, then tap the information icon in the top-right corner.5
- To hide displayed like and view counts on posts you see in Feed, use the route Mosseri demonstrated in May 2021: open your profile, go to Settings, then Privacy, then Posts, and enable the option to hide like and view counts.6
See also
References
- 1New photo filters, reels editing tools and more!
- 2Quick thought: Engagement rates are more important than follower counts.
- 3Introducing Video View Counts
- 4We’re making an update within insights to make “Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels.
- 5About Instagram insights
- 6You can now choose whether or not you want like counts!