What Are Views on Instagram?

Views are Instagram’s new primary metric to judge the performance of your posts, regardless of media formats. Views will measure how many times a piece of content has been viewed, including repeat views.

Reels Plays will now be replaced by Views, and Views will be shown not only for Reels but for Single Image Posts, Carousels, and Stories. In Instagram Insights, Accounts Reached, Accounts Engaged, Interactions, and Watch Time will be phased out and replaced by Views.

Where to Find Views on Instagram

To find the new Views metric, you must have a business or creator account on Instagram.

Go to your Instagram profile, tap a post you’d like to view insights on, and below the image, tap View Insights. To see overall account insights, you can also go to your Instagram profile, click View insights, and view metrics under the Overview section.

Why Followers & Likes Aren’t The Key Metrics

As Instagram competes against TikTok, they have updated their algorithm to show you content beyond who you follow. In the past, you would only see content from your followers in your main feed — now, 50% of the posts are from people you do not follow and are recommendations from Meta’s AI.

When who you follow no longer dictates your experience on Instagram, users stop following new accounts. Across the board, accounts have been seeing a trend of lower follower growth — but if you are seeing your views grow, that is still a sign of strong performance.

Recently, Instagram has also seen a trend of users spending less time liking posts, and more time sharing content they like with their friends. This has led to the Instagram algorithm devaluing likes and prioritizing reach — how many people have seen your content.

Why Views Are the New KPI

The more that people view your content, the more the Instagram algorithm will rank your content as “important” content that should be pushed out to more and more people. The new Views metric helps you focus on garnering more eyeballs versus garnering more followers and likes. It also allows you to better compare performance across all of your different media formats, reviewing the same primary metric across all content types.

What This Means For You

Growing a dedicated audience on Instagram is becoming more and more challenging for brands as users become more reliant on Instagram’s algorithm to share the content they want to see, instead of using follows to dictate the content they see on the platform.

If your goal on social is to build brand awareness, brand affinity, website leads, and eventually sales, building Views will be a key starting point. By appealing to the algorithm to maximize reach, your content will be shown to your target audience, building awareness and interest. You can no longer expect and rely on your followers to be seeing your content.

What Should You Do Next? 

Start by reviewing your Instagram Insights to understand the new data and metrics, watching the rollout as metrics like Plays and Impressions get swapped out in your account for Views. As you create more content in the future, craft your strategy based on what’s garnering the most Views — whether that’s utilizing trending music, leaning into humor and entertainment, and/or sharing educational founder content — instead of likes.

Beyond social, you can also apply these learnings to your influencer strategy. Knowing influencer follower counts won’t show the full picture, dig into each influencer's Views to understand how their content is performing and what kind of influence they have on the platform. For influencers who are achieving high View counts, think about how you can partner with these influencers to not only showcase your brand on their channels, but to create strong content for your brand channels and your paid ads.