Instagram Insights: what each number means
Where Insights lives, what views, reach, interactions, shares and skip rate measure, and which to act on.
First brand read free. No filming.
The short answer
Instagram Insights is in your professional dashboard: From your profile, tap Professional dashboard, then Account insights, and pick a time frame within the past 90 days. Views count every time your content is played or shown, accounts reached counts unique accounts that saw it, and interactions add up likes, saves, comments and shares. For reels, skip rate shows how many views skipped in the first 3 seconds.
Updated
Open Insights
- 01
Go to your profile
Insights needs a professional (creator or business) account.
- 02
Tap Professional dashboard
Then Account insights for the whole account, or open a post and view its insights.
- 03
Pick the time frame
A preset or custom range within the past 90 days.
Read it fairly
Under 100 followers
Some audience metrics, such as follower counts by time online, are not available until you reach 100 followers.
Data can lag
Instagram’s API says insights may be delayed up to 48 hours.
Top 45 only
Demographic breakdowns show the top 45 locations or groups.
Compare like with like
Compare a reel with your other reels, not with photos or stories.
The sources
Read on 10 October 2026. Metric definitions come from Meta’s developer documentation, which matches what the app shows.
Instagram Insights
Profile, Professional dashboard, Account insights; any time frame within the past 90 days.
Source: help.instagram.com, read Invalid Date
- Says
- Where to find it
- Page
- Instagram Help Center
- Date
- Read 10 October 2026
Instagram media insights (API)
Views, interactions, shares, saves, average watch time; reels skip rate = views skipped in the first 3 seconds.
Source: developers.facebook.com, read Invalid Date
- Says
- Metric definitions
- Page
- Meta for Developers
- Date
- Read 10 October 2026
Instagram account insights (API)
Some metrics unavailable under 100 followers; impressions deprecated 21 April 2025; data may lag up to 48 hours.
Source: developers.facebook.com, read Invalid Date
- Says
- Thresholds and changes
- Page
- Meta for Developers
- Date
- Read 10 October 2026
The metrics
Views
The number of times your content was played or displayed, across reels, posts and stories. Meta retired the older impressions metric in April 2025.
Accounts reached
Unique accounts that saw your content at least once.
Interactions
Likes, saves, comments and shares, minus unlikes, unsaves and deleted comments.
Shares and saves
How often a reel was shared or a post saved: the strongest signs people valued it.
Average watch time
The average time people spent playing a reel.
Skip rate
The share of reel views that skipped in the first 3 seconds. A high one means the opening is not landing.
Read next
Your questions, answered
Short answers to what people ask next.
On a professional account: go to your profile, tap Professional dashboard, then Account insights. You can choose any range within the past 90 days.
Views count every play or display, including repeats; reach counts unique accounts that saw your content at least once.
The percentage of a reel’s views that skipped in the first 3 seconds. Lower is better: it means the opening holds people.
Some audience metrics are not available on accounts with fewer than 100 followers.
Yes. Meta deprecated impressions on 21 April 2025; views is now the main count across reels, posts and stories.
Percify makes a short video for your brand every day from formats proven in your niche, so you have more reels to compare and can keep what works.