Instagram launches new metrics for insights, among other features for Reels

Meta’s social media platform, Instagram, has launched new features for its short-form video content offering.

These new features for Instagram Reels include a dedicated destination for finding trending audio and hashtags, a unified editing screen for all things, including video clips, audio, stickers and texts, and two new metrics for insights- Total and Average watch times.

Announcing the same through a blog post, Instagram mentioned, “We strive to make Instagram a home for creators like you to express your creativity, connect with your audience, and earn a living. Today we're announcing improvements to Reels — that empower you to do what you do best.”

As per the company, the brand new feature of a dedicated centralised destination for finding trending audio and hashtags will make it easier for creators to look and discover fresh content ideas and be inspired by the latest trends. 

“You'll be able to see the top trending songs and hashtags on Reels, see how many times the audio has been used, tap in to use it, or save the audio for yourself,” the blogpost read.

Another new feature announced by Instagram is a unified editing screen that brings together video clips, audio, stickers, and text all in one dashboard and makes it easier for creators to edit their Reels and that too on the platform itself.

As per Instagram, this makes it easier to align and time elements of one’s Reel to the right moments in a more visual way on both iOS and Android devices across the globe.

The blogpost mentioned that the company is investing in more tools help in creating Reels.

Furthermore, the company blog post also threw light on the improved Reels insights aimed at helping the creator to better understand how his/her content is performing through the new measurement metrics- total watch time and average watch time.

“Total watch time captures the total amount of time your reel was played, including any time spent replaying the reel. Average watch time captures the average amount of time spent playing your reel, calculated by dividing watch time with the number of total plays. For example, if your average watch time is 17 seconds, out of everyone who watched your Reel they watched an average of 17 seconds. This will help you better understand where people are being engaged or where you may need to create a stronger hook to have viewers stay longer,” Instagram said.

Additionally, creators will now be able to see how their reels are contributing to their growth as one will now receive a notification regarding the new followers that came from the individual creator’s Reels.