Instagram Reels Stats and Performance Benchmarks per Industry

Short-form video is one of the most effective mediums to increase your Instagram Reels engagement rate. Knowing and understanding average Instagram Reel benchmarks for your industry (and in general) makes it possible to set realistic, achievable goals that contribute to your overall marketing objectives. 

If your brand sets goals arbitrarily, this can do more harm than good — it’s easy to get discouraged with your efforts, not know where to pivot in your strategy, or, conversely, know which content actually performs well. 

This article covers: 

• Overall average Instagram Reels views. 
• Overall average Instagram engagement rate. 
• Overall average Instagram Reels likes.
• Instagram Reels stats by industry.
• How Instagram insights help brands become industry leaders. 

Average Instagram Reels Stats by Industry

Industry-specific benchmarks are essential to crafting your strategy — the goals you use to inform your strategy’s tactics and benchmarks tell you where your objectives should be and help you gauge success. 

While looking at brand averages helps inform your Instagram Reels strategy, it’s even better to get down to the nitty gritty and discover the benchmarks for your industry.  

So, how many average Reel views should brands aim for on Instagram? On average, Instagram Reels receive 122.8K views in a six-month period, from July 1 2023-December 31, 2023. 

Beauty - 116.9K Views

The Beauty industry has experienced a fairly significant decline in views compared to other industries, moving from the highest average Instagram video views to the 9th-highest average views, at 96.7K views. The average number of views are down from 103.5K from the previous six months. The beauty industry’s content also resonates deeply with its audience, receiving the third-highest Entertainment Score across all industries at 4.2 and the fifth-highest Effectiveness Rate at 17%. 

For the hyper-visual Beauty industry, video is a great medium to highlight the product itself, but also tutorials, tips and social media trends that use beauty products. This format also lends itself well to both professionally-produced video and lo-fi, short-form content. Right now, static content receives just slightly higher engagement rates, which means beauty brands have an opportunity to leverage the less saturated Reels space.  

CPG, Food and Beverage - 54.9K Views

The consumer packaged goods, food and beverage industry has the fifth-highest average Instagram Reel views at 54.9K in a six-month period. This is a decline from our previous benchmark report, which saw this industry receive 143.4K average views, a 283% decrease. However, their content resonates with audiences, with the third-highest Effectiveness Rate at 17.8%. 

Despite this decrease in average views, the CPG industry leads in Entertainment Score, growing to 4.6 year-over-year, while posting less (3 static posts and 2 Reels weekly). They also fall just slightly behind the overall average engagement rate of 0.4% by just 0.3%. CPG, Food and Beverage brands should get creative with their Reels content. Due to its less frequent posts, tools like Vision can help predict which content will perform the best with the CPG industry’s audience — ultra helpful in a competitive landscape. 

Sparkling water brand Liquid Death created a funny video and partnered with Martha Stewart (a lifestyle guru known for her onscreen DIYs) to showcase a special edition candle supporting recycling efforts. Most of its Reels content focuses on funny situations and punchlines incorporating Liquid Death beverages.

Home - 111.7K Views 

The Home industry is another visual vertical that benefits from Instagram Reels — the home industry saw 111.7K average views in a six-month period, a 32% increase from our previous benchmark report where this industry received 84.4K average views. The home industry’s content Entertainment Score is 3.1, while its Effectiveness Rate is the second-lowest at 13.4%. This shows an opportunity for home brands to diversify their content mix and dive deeper into what their audience responds best to — this could mean developing buyer personas, A/B testing or creating surveys and polls on social to determine what content their audience wants to see most. 

CB2 is an excellent example of showcasing dish ware from its eponymous brand while partnering with a related brand in the Food and Beverage Industry. CB2 shows its customer how its product can be used to create a beautiful beverage versus simply showing the glassware on camera.  

Luxury and Fashion - 94.7K Views 

The Luxury and Fashion industries also benefit from a hyper-visual platform like Reels. Through behind-the-scenes content, interviews with influencer models and more, 

The Luxury and Fashion industries has seen 94.7K average Reels views, down 53% to 94,700 from 144,900 since our last benchmark report. Overall, this industry receives lower Effectiveness Rate), Entertainment Scores (3.3). This suggests that these industries have an opportunity to adjust their strategies to incorporate their branding with fresh content, like sharing trends, memes and more that fit their brand identity.

While lo-fi, short-form organic content tends to perform well on Instagram Reels, luxury brands often use polished, professional videos for their content. Brands in this space can try incorporating behind-the-scenes clips, like interviews with models, to garner more engagement. 

Publishing and Media - 227K Views 

The Media and Publishing industry has the highest average views on Reels and the second-highest Entertainment Score of all industries at 4.5, coming second only to Travel. Its Effectiveness Rate falls at 14.8%, the fifth-highest among all industries. These industries encompass magazines, journals, books and more, focusing on a diverse range of topics. While it might seem that words are this industry's mainstay, they have a great opportunity to capture views with visual content that takes users inside the action of an event they're covering, showcase behind-the-scenes footage from an interview, photoshoot outtakes or repurposed clips from their YouTube channel and website.

Take Vogue’s Instagram Reels, for example — the publisher shares compelling clips from its YouTube series ‘My Life in Looks,’ which drives the average Instagram engagement but also encourages users to seek out the full video on its YouTube account. 

Retail - 82K Views 

While the Retail Industry has the second-lowest average views, they stand to improve their video strategy — this industry still favors static posts, meaning that adapting their Reels strategy and increasing dynamic content could increase their average reach, views and Entertainment Score. The Retail industry’s content is Effectiveness Rate is 12.4%, while its Entertainment Score is 4.2, which makes sense when you consider the industry’s reliance on static content. 

Since many retail operations — like Target — offer a slew of products, this presents a wide range of opportunities to showcase home products, clothing, shoes, food, makeup, cleaning products, children’s toys and more. However, it also presents a challenge since so many content opportunities can make it difficult to streamline content strategies. 

Retail brands should consider their target demographic and craft their visual content strategy around product lines that are popular with these individuals.

Children & Baby Industry - 67.2K Views

The Children & Baby Industry has seen a 12% increase in video views compared to the previous six-month period.

The Children and Baby industry appeals to parents with educational, informative content — they also infuse humor into a lot of its content, with fun interviews with children (like the Coterie example above) and other fun, creative content. 

Right now, this industry has a 3.0 Entertainment Score and the fourth-highest Entertainment Score at 17% — they have the chance to boost their Reels strategy even further by maintaining a diverse range of funny and informative video content targeted to parents. Another type of content that seems to resonate well with their audience include corporate social responsibility and partnerships with non-profit organizations and more. Brands should look for opportunities to authentically promote their non-profit partnerships and other causes, while engaging their audience to contribute to these causes. 

Health & Wellness Industry - 47.3K

The Health & Wellness Industry posts, on average, 2 Reels per week. They receive a slightly lower Entertainment Score of 2.9, which indicates an opportunity for them to refine their content to better align with their target audience. However, they have the second-highest Effectiveness Rate of 17.1%, meaning their static content is likely resonating better with users. 

Health and wellness brands should dig into their audience demographics and refine their buyer personas to strategically align their Reels content with their audience’s preferences and keep them engaged longer.

Love Wellness (@lovewellness), a supplement and probiotic brand, capture their user’s attention via Reels featuring their celebrity-founder, former reality star Lo Bosworth, discussing her personal experience with physical health and her journey to discovering her passion for nutrient absorption and vitamins. This is a great way to attract users and appeal both emotionally and rationally to viewers who might be interested in learning more. 

Travel Industry - 75.6K Views 

The Travel Industry benefits from Reels engaging, dynamic nature, allowing this industry to take their viewers on visual trips to various destinations — what’s more, they often mix this type of inspirational content with practical travel tips, like the best luggage to buy, where to eat and more. This industry receives fairly high Effectiveness Rates at 18.6% and a fairly high Entertainment Score of of 4.8. Despite just posting 2 Reels weekly, their content resonates deeply with their audience.

Get Your Guide uses a blend of Instagram trends and helpful tips to educate their users about potential travel destinations, providing itinerary ideas and things travelers can expect. This is a great way to blend entertainment and tips to provide value for users who currently travel or simpy seek an visual getaway. 

Average Instagram Engagement Rate

When it comes to Instagram engagement, the overall average Engagement Rate is perhaps lower than you might expect at 0.3%, a 50% decline from the previous six-month period. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Instagram is declining in popularity overall — more users are engaging with Instagram DMs and shares and less with comments and likes, hence the significant drop.  

Growing brands match the overall industry average 0.3%, falling from 1.1% for a -267% decrease. However, engagement for Established brands (190K-1.1M followers), is just slightly higher than the industry average with an 0.4% average engagement rate, while Large brands (1.1M followers), meet the industry average with a 0.3% average engagement rate, which remains the same as the previous six-month period. 

When it comes to industry-specific stats, average Engagement Rates are a little lower.

• Beauty industry: 0.2% Engagement Rate.
• CPG, Food and Beverage industry: 0.3% average Engagement Rate.
• Publishing and Media industry: 0.4% average Engagement Rate.
• Health and Wellness industry: 0.2% average Engagement Rate.
• Home industry: 0.2% average Engagement Rate.
• Luxury and Fashion industry: 0.2% average Engagement Rate.
• Retail industry: 0.2% average Engagement Rate.
• Travel industry: 0.4% average Engagement Rate.

Interestingly, the Media and Publishing industry claims the largest number of average likes at 5.9K, which positively impacts their Engagement Rate average.

Instagram Reels Stats for Brands Based on Follower Size

Just like different industries have different Engagement Rates, account follower size also impacts a brand's Instagram Reel metrics.

Growing Brands (0-190K)

Growing brands — accounts with 0-190K followers — have a 20.4% average Effectiveness Rate. This metric measures the impact and success of your video content and uses reach in place of follower count. Hence, brands better understand their engagement without the negative implications inactive followers can have. 

While comments, shares and views are also higher the more followers your brand has, Growing brands have a 10.2K average Reach and can expect to see lower numbers while they build their follower count.

Established Brands (190K-1.1M)

Established brands overall have a slightly higher-than-average Effectiveness Rate of 19%.

Some social accounts fall victim to ghost followers and inactive followers can negatively impact your Engagement Rate. In lieu of cleaning your account and removing these followers (which is a great way to mitigate plummeting Engagement Rates), calculating the Effectiveness Rate (likes + comments + saves + video views/reach) is a great way to measure engagement. 

Larger Brands (1.1M+ Followers)

While Larger brands tend to see a lower Engagement Rate at 9.9%, they benefit from higher reach, with an average of 359.7K reach, up 268% from the previous six-month period. They also benefit from a higher number of interactions, with 578 average shares compared to the overall industry average of 301.

It’s worth noting that Engagement Rates are a significant contributor to ranking in the Instagram algorithm, so this is an important metric to track consistently. 

‍Entertainment Score is another great benchmark for brands to set, which considers your Engagement and Retention Rate, a more robust calculation than simply followers (although those are important too). Growing brands have an average Entertainment Score of 4.1, Established brands have a 3.8 score and Large Brands have a higher score of 4.9.

Become an Industry Leader on Social With Instagram Insights From Dash Hudson

If you want to take your brand's Reels strategy to the next level, Dash Hudson's Instagram Insights will take you there. With both Reels and Feed insights, Dash Hudson also gives you an understanding of which user-generated content performs best for your account. 

Another feature that marketers love for Instagram is LikeShop — this creates a seamless checkout experience from your feed to a custom shoppable gallery or landing page of your choice.

Of course, you'll need to measure your content strategy's impact on your goals and whether you meet or exceed your industry's benchmarks. Competitive Insights and Benchmarking provides custom data like Effectiveness Rate and Entertainment Score while tracking your competitor's content, so you have your finger on the pulse of everything happening in your social landscape.

FAQs

How do you measure Instagram Reel performance?

You can measure the performance of your Instagram Reels in a few different ways — these all depend on which goals and business objectives you’ve identified in your Instagram strategy.

Some of the most common metrics to measure the impact of Instagram Reels are: 

• Engagement Rate. 
• Followers gained/Reach. 
• Likes, comments and shares. 
• Website traffic. 

Brands should use average benchmarks and industry Reels performance measures, if available, to gauge their performance against competitors. For example, if you’re in the Beauty Industry and you’ve set a goal to receive 10K likes on Reels each month and you receive 5K likes on average, you might grow discouraged that you haven’t reached your goal. When you consider that the average number of Instagram Reel likes for the Beauty Industry is 3.7K, 5K likes is a significant achievement. 

How can I improve my Instagram Reel performance?

There are many ways brands can improve their Instagram Reels performance. What improvements will benefit your account is another story — however, before tweaking your entire visual strategy, here are a few things to take into account:

• Make sure you publish during the best times to post on TikTok.
• Optimize captions with hashtags and keywords.
• Dive into social media analytics and determine which content resonates best with your audience — then, refine your strategy to create similar content.