Article Brief:
Fresh findings from Emplifi, a customer engagement firm, reveal that branded video content on Instagram Reels exceeds performance on other platforms like TikTok and Facebook.
The analysis of numerous brand-owned social media accounts revealed that longer Reels, lasting over 90 seconds, received twice as many video views compared to TikTok. Additionally, Instagram Reels surpassed the platform's own Stories feature, achieving six times the reach. However, despite this, advertisers posted five times more Stories than Reels in 2023.
Article Insight:
Forget TikTok, because Meta's Instagram is making a comeback for advertisers, according to Emplifi's research. But taking advantage of this opportunity will mean changing how advertisers approach the platform.
As brands plan their social marketing strategies for 2024, it may be beneficial to focus on creating more Reels and longer-form videos on Instagram. According to Emplifi’s CMO Zarnaz Arlia, there are untapped opportunities for brands that are willing to prioritize their Instagram video strategy. The data indicates that audiences respond positively to longer videos, so the key is to produce engaging and valuable content that keeps them watching.
Insider Intelligence reports that social videos are the most popular form of social media content, with U.S. adults spending 56% of their social media time watching them, a 15% increase in the past three years. Although video length matters on Instagram, it is less important on TikTok. According to Emplifi, Instagram Reels with longer lengths received 8,372 median views, compared to TikTok's 3,379 views. Instagram Reels with shorter lengths (less than 30 seconds) garnered 6,145 median views, while medium-length Reels (30 to 60 seconds) had a median of 7,830 views. Emplifi attributes the difference in views to Instagram's push to prioritize Reels on its platform.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the performance of Facebook Reels mirrors that of its sister company, attracting more than three times the number of median views than the other video content on the platform.