In the nearly three years since video debuted on Instagram, one thing has been missing: view counts. Unlike YouTube/Facebook/Vine, Instagram hasn’t displayed the number of times a video has been played, until now. Instagram will soon be counting anyone who watched at least three seconds of a video as a view, just like Facebook.
Over the “coming weeks,” Instagram will show view counts, along with the standard “like” and “comment” counts. This will be a major improvement for brands, as they’ll now be able to see their most popular content. The issue with the current format is that the only data available on video content is whether people like the video or have something to say about it. The missing element has been reach.
Of course, the other benefit of view counts is to appeal to advertisers. A view is the main metric that advertisers focus on when it comes to video ads, which will make the platform more appealing to advertisers.
The view counts will be rolling out over the coming weeks. For more information, see the official Instagram blog post.
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